Gamecocks Host South Carolina State Monday at 4 p.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (7-4) returns to Colonial Life Arena on Monday afternoon to face South Carolina State (1-12) in the team’s final game before a brief Christmas break. Tip is set for 4 p.m. (ET) with arena doors opening 1 hour prior to the start of the non-conference matchup.

Cade Crenshaw (pxp) and John Williams (analyst) will be on the call for the SEC Network+ broadcast.

The Gamecocks will be running their popular free concessions promotion again starting tomorrow. For more information, click here.

Carolina is 23-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, including a pair of wins coming under head coach Lamont Paris. Seven games have been decided by single-digits in the series with the Gamecocks’ average margin of victory in the 23 wins at 17.3 points. A notable game in the series was an 82-65 Gamecock win on Nov. 29, 2002 in what was just the second game ever at Colonial Life Arena. Chuck Eidson had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, recording the first triple-double in program history.

South Carolina State is led by fourth-year head coach Erik Martin, who was a longtime assistant under Hall of Famer Bob Huggins at Kansas State and West Virginia. The Bulldogs recently picked up their first win of the season, a 68-54 home victory over Brewton-Parker on Dec. 19. Owen Bronston Jr. is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per game. Jayden Johnson averages 9.2 points and leads the team averaging 3.5 assists per contest. Christopher Parker averages 9.0 points and leads the team averaging 7.6 rebounds per game. The Bulldogs average just 65.6 points per game while shooting 39.2% (299-of-763) from the floor as a team. They’ve given up 85.8 points per game while allowing their opponents to shoot 48.6% (372-of-766) from the field.

GAME INFORMATION
TIME: 4 p.m. (ET)
VENUE: Colonial Life Arena
TV: SEC Network+
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Cade Crenshaw
    ANALYST: John Williams
RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network 
IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott
    ANALYST: Casey Manning
SIRIUSXM: 383 | SXM APP: 973
WATCH: espn.com/watch/
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
SERIES: 23-0, Gamecocks lead
IN COLUMBIA: 23-0, Gamecocks lead
SERIES TREND: Teams first met on Dec. 3, 1979 ; 7 of 23 games have been decided by single digits ; average margin of victory for Gamecocks in series is 17.3 points.
LAST MEETING: 86-64 Gamecock win on Nov. 8, 2024 in the second game of the season.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
13-1 – The Gamecocks have a 13-1 record under Lamont Paris when shooting 50.0% or higher. The lone loss came in his 1st season in 2022-23 at Missouri.
17-1 – The Gamecocks are 17-1 record under Paris when scoring 80 or more points.
45-10 – The Gamecocks are 45-10 in 4 seasons under Paris when holding teams below 70 points (.818 win %).
28-3 – Carolina is 28-3 under Paris last season when holding its opponents below 40% shooting from the floor. The team was 7-0 last season and is 4-0 this season when accomplishing the defensive feat.
6-0  – The Gamecocks are 6-0 all-time under Paris when the team shoots 50.0 percent or higher from behind the arc.
7-0 – The team is also 7-0 all-time under Paris when dishing out 20 or more assists.  Five of those seven games came in the historic 2023-24 season with a high of 25 helpers in the win at Georgia on Feb. 3, 2024. Carolina dished out 24 assists on 31 made field goals in the 91-72, season-opening win against NC A&T (Nov. 4).
10-0 – The Gamecocks are 10-0 (2-0 this season) under Paris when the team makes 30 or more FGs. Carolina made 34 field goals (team high in the Paris era), shooting 57.6% (another team high in the Paris era) in an 87-58 victory over Radford on Nov. 18.
449 – Johnson (204) and Stute (245) have combined to make 449 3s in their college careers. Stute’s 245 career 3s are 19th amongst active career leaders in Division I. Johnson’s 204 3s rank 42nd. The Gamecocks are one of seven teams in NCAA Division I to have multiple players with 200+ career made 3s (Alabama, Indiana, Louisville, Oklahoma, San Diego & West Virginia the others).
485 – Stute (140), Johnson (127), transfers Mike Sharavjamts (110) and Kobe Knox (108) have combined to play 485 games at the NCAA Division I level bringing a wealth of experience to the Gamecocks’ backcourt. Stute (6th) and Johnson (T-24th) both rank inside the top-25 on the active games played list in Division I.
1,000 – Stute scored his 1,000th career point with a 3-pointer early in the game vs. Radford (Nov. 18)
48 – Johnson scored his 1,000th career point at South Carolina with his final bucket in a recent victory over The Citadel (Dec. 13). He became the 48th  Gamecock to join the 1,000-career point club (first since former All-SEC guard AJ Lawson from 2018-21).
25 – Johnson became the 25th different player for South Carolina since the 2004-05 season to record a 30-point game when he had a career-high 33 points vs. Southern Miss on Nov. 9. Johnson, Brenton Williams (2014) and Devan Downey (2009) are the only Gamecocks to have a 30-point game with seven or more made 3s.
44 – Johnson became the 44th player in the SEC to hit seven or more 3s in a game over the last five seasons. Stute is also on that list, making seven 3s twice while at Vanderbilt in games at Temple (11/15/22) and at Texas A&M (1/28/23).
94 – Carolina has hit 94 3s (8.5 3FG per game) in the first 11 games of the season with a combined 57  different players hitting a shot from behind the arc in the 11 ball games (average of 5.2 different players hitting a 3FG per game).
30 – The Gamecocks’ 31-point win over Stetson (Dec. 6) was the team’s first victory by 30 or more points since defeating Florida A&M, 94-62, on Dec. 30, 2023 in the non-conference finale.
10 – Paris has been a part of 10 NCAA Tournament teams as a Division I assistant/head coach with his first appearance at South Carolina coming last season.
18 – He has been a part of 18, 20-win seasons as a college head and assistant coach.
.696 – In his 17 seasons as a collegiate assistant coach, teams associated with Paris were 497-217 (.696) with five conference titles and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching two Final Fours.
274 – The Gamecocks made 274 3s during the 2023-24 campaign, a new single-season program record.
344 – The team had just 344 turnovers in the 2023-24 season, the third-fewest all-time for a single season at Carolina.
8-3 – The Gamecocks were 8-3 in true road games during the 2023-24 season. The team won seven SEC games on the road, tying the 1996-97 SEC Champion squad for the most league road wins in program history since joining the SEC in 1991-92.
25 – Carolina held 25 opponents to less than 70 points in 2023-24, which T-4th nationally and led the SEC.
8-0 – The Gamecocks were 8-0 in 2023-24 when shooting 50.0% or better from the floor.
1998 – The team finished the 2023-24 season ranked No. 25 in the final AP Poll, marking the first time the Gamecocks were ranked in the final top-25 poll since being slotted No. 14 in the final AP Poll of 1998.
1997 – The Gamecocks picked up the program’s first top-five road win since 1997 on Jan. 30, 2024 with a 63-59 victory over No. 5/5 Tennessee. The previous top-five road win was a 72-66 win at No. 3 Kentucky on March 2, 1997. The 59 points scored by Tennessee were a season-low for the Vols. It was also the first home loss of the season for UT, snapping a 13-game home winning streak by the Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena.

UP NEXT
South Carolina will be off for Christmas before returning to action on Dec. 30 for the non-conference finale against Albany (4-9). Tip is set for 6 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network with Lowell Galindo (pxp) and Richard Hendrix (analyst) on the call for the linear broadcast.

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