Johnson posts a career-high 29 points in South Carolina's win over Notre Dame

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Meechie Johnson scored a career-high 29 points and B.J. Mack scored 17 points and South Carolina used the second half to distance itself from Notre Dame and beat the Irish 65-53 on Tuesday night in an ACC/SEC Challenge contest.

South Carolina (6-0) is off to its best start since former coach Frank Martin took the program to the Final Four in 2017.

Johnson finished 9-for-15 shooting, Mack was 6 for 15 and the rest of the Gamecocks went 4 for 20. South Carolina made 38% (19 of 50) of its shot attempts.

Trae Davis scored 15 points, J.R. Konieczny 11 and Julian Roper II 10 for Notre Dame (3-3).

South Carolina capitalized on Notre Dame’s 1-for-13 shooting stretch in the second half, and when Johnson made a pull-up bank shot in the lane, the Gamecocks reached their biggest lead to that point, 48-41, with 8:23 left. Less than a minute later, Johnson made a 3-pointer and the Gamecocks led by double figures for most of the remainder.

Braeden Shrewsberry gave Notre Dame its last lead at 40-38 with 14:14 left. South Carolina led 31-28 at halftime.

Notre Dame opens ACC play on Saturday traveling to No. 8 Miami.

South Carolina hosts George Washington on Friday.

KEY STAT

• Junior guard Meechie Johnson scored a career-high 29 points on an efficient 9-of-15 shooting night that featured four triples. Johnson surpassed his previous high of 26 which came last season at Kentucky in Carolina’s wire-to-wire victory over the Wildcats on Jan. 10 at Rupp Arena. Johnson added five rebounds and was 7-of-8 at the charity stripe in 35 minutes for the Gamecocks.

NOTABLES

• Graduate forward B.J. Mack also scored in double-figures for Carolina adding 17 points and four rebounds. It was Mack’s fifth game this season scoring in double digits and the 66^th of his career.
• South Carolina allowed just 32.7 percent (17-for-52) from the floor and just 28.6 percent (6-for-21) from behind the 3-point line.
• Ta’Lon Cooper led Carolina with four assists on the night. Cooper has led the Garnet and Black every game this season in helpers and has 31 dimes to just 5 turnovers on the year, which has him in the top-10 nationally for assist-to-turnover ration.
• South Carolina extends its record to 6-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 Final Four season when the Gamecocks started the year 8-0.
• This marks the 10^th 6-0 start in program history (1933-34, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1987-88, 1988-89, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2023-24).
• Tonight’s victory marked Carolina’s first win against Notre Dame since a 52-42 triumph at Carolina Coliseum on Feb. 4, 1984.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks (6-0) remain home for a Friday night matchup with George Washington (6-1) at 7 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network+. Dave Weinstein and John Williams will be on the call.

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