South Carolina Faces LSU Tuesday in SEC Road Opener

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (9-5, 0-1 SEC) hits the road for just the second time this season facing LSU (12-2, 0-1 SEC) on Tuesday night. Tip is set for 7 p.m. (ET) at Pete Maravich Assembly Center with Lowell Galindo (pxp) and Pat Bradley (analyst) on the call for the ESPNU broadcast.

The Gamecocks are looking to bounce back from an opening SEC loss to No. 11/10 Vanderbilt (14-0, 1-0 SEC) on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena. The Commodores hit 10 3s, had five players score in double-figures and shot 50.9% from the floor en route to an 83-71 victory. Junior forward Elijah Strong led Carolina with 17 points in just 20 minutes of action in his first career SEC Game. Myles Stute (14) and Mike Sharavjamts (13) also scored in double-figures for Carolina. Sharavjamts has scored 10 or more in 11 of the team’s 14 games this season. The Gamecocks, who remain in the top-10 nationally via KenPom in 2-point field goal percentage (61.8%) and free throw percentage (79.4%) thru 14 games, were just 7-of-28 (25.0%) from 3 in their league opener.

LSU fell, 66-63, on the road at Texas A&M (11-3, 1-0) in their SEC opener on Saturday. Mississippi State transfer forward Michael Nwoko led the Tigers with 20 points. Portland transfer guard Max Mackinnon hit four 3s and had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. Nwoko is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 16.4 points per contest while shooting an efficient 71.1% (91-of-128) from the floor. UNLV transfer guard Dedan Thomas Jr. averages 16.2 points per game and 7.1 assists per game, which leads the SEC and ranks No. 8 nationally. Thomas missed the Tigers SEC opener in College Station. Mackinnon is the LSU’s leading 3-point shooter at 44.0% (33-of-75). Marquel Sutton, a transfer forward from Omaha, averages 13.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest, which is second in the SEC and 27^th nationally.

GAME INFORMATION
TIME: 7 p.m. (ET)
VENUE: Pete Maravich Assembly Center
TV: ESPNU
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Lowell Galindo
    ANALYST: Pat Bradley
RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network 
IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott
    ANALYST: Casey Manning
SIRIUSXM: 380 | SXM APP: 970
WATCH: espn.com/watch/
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
SERIES: Tied, 20-20
IN BATON ROUGE: 10-7, Tigers lead
SERIES TREND: Teams have split last four matchups and Tigers have won 3-of-4 on their home floor dating back to 2019.
LAST MEETING: Tigers won 81-67 last season at PMAC on Feb. 18. LSU hit 13 3s in the victory.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
1 – Per the ESPN Basketball Power Index for the 2025-26 season, South Carolina’s remaining strength of schedule is No. 1 in the nation. The entire SEC makes up the top-16 in the country.
15-1 – The Gamecocks have a 15-1 record under Lamont Paris when shooting 50.0% or higher. The lone loss came in his 1st season in 2022-23 at Missouri.
19-1 – The Gamecocks are 19-1 record under Paris when scoring 80 or more points.
46-10 – The Gamecocks are 46-10 in 4 seasons under Paris when holding teams below 70 points (.821 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).
11-0 – The Gamecocks are 11-0 (3-0 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.
4-0 – The Gamecocks are 4-0 this season when the bench scores 40 or more points.
17-2 – Carolina is 17-2 over the last three seasons when Myles Stute scores 10 or more points (only losses at No. 16/16 Indiana last season and vs. No. 11/11 Vanderbilt on Saturday).
10-2 – The Gamecocks are 10-2 over the last three seasons when Stute makes three or more 3s (only losses at No. 16/16 Indiana last season and vs. No. 11/11 Vanderbilt on Saturday).
462 – Meechie Johnson (208) and Stute (254) have combined to make 462 3s in their college careers. Stute’s 254 career 3s are 18th amongst active career leaders in Division I. Johnson’s 208 3s rank T-44th. The Gamecocks are one of eight teams in NCAA Division I to have multiple players with 200+ career made 3s (Alabama, Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Oklahoma, San Diego & West Virginia the others). 
497 – Stute (143), Johnson (130), transfers Mike Sharavjamts (113) and Kobe Knox (111) have combined to play 497 games at the NCAA Division I level bringing a wealth of experience to the Gamecocks’ backcourt. Stute (6th) and Johnson (T-23rd) 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).
121 – Carolina has hit 121 3s (8.6 3FG per game) in the first 14 games of the season with a combined 72 different players hitting a shot from behind the arc in the 14 ball games (average of 5.1 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
Carolina returns home to face No. 18/20 Georgia (13-1, 1-0 SEC) on Saturday. Tip is set for 2 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2 with Roy Philpott (pxp) and Jon Crispin (analyst) on the call for the nationally televised game.

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