Gamecocks Back Home Saturday, Face No. 18/20 Georgia

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (10-5, 1-1 SEC) returns to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday to face No. 18/20 Georgia (13-2, 1-1 SEC) in its third league game. Tip is set for 2 p.m. (ET) with Roy Philpott (pxp) and Jon Crispin (analyst) on the call for the ESPN2 broadcast.

Arena doors open 1 hour prior to tipoff. Rally towels will be given out to all fans. The first 1,200 students in The Cockpit will get a free t-shirt. There will also be free pizza for the first 500 students. For more information on claiming student tickets, click here.

The Gamecocks will look to build on an impressive road win earlier this week on Tuesday, defeating LSU 78-68 in Baton Rouge. The victory was the team’s first Quad 1 win of the season and helped Carolina jump over 20 spots in both the NET Rankings and KenPom. Junior forward Elijah Strong had a career-high 30 points in just 25 minutes of action. He had 18 in the first half as the Gamecocks built a 25-point advantage at the break. Carolina made its first nine shots of the game, including six 3s. Redshirt junior guard Meechie Johnson added 19 points, six assists and three steals. Freshman guard Eli Ellis had 10 points off the bench including a clutch 3 down the stretch with 2:44 remaining.

Georgia fell 92-77 on the road at Florida (10-5, 1-1 SEC) on Tuesday night. UT-San Antonio transfer guard Marcus Millender led four Bulldogs in double-figures with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The Gators led by just one, 41-40 at the break. They finished the game with 58 points in the paint and 35 fast break points. Georgia beat Auburn 104-100 in overtime at home to open league play on Jan. 3. The Bulldogs went 12-1 in non-con, their only loss a 97-94 overtime defeat to Clemson in the Charleston Classic back on Nov. 23. They lead the nation in scoring offense (97.9 ppg), blocks (7.9) and fastbreak points (25.9), per game. They rank No. 3 nationally in free throws made (21.8) and free throw attempts (29.0) per game. Georgia is No. 10 nationally and No. 2 in the SEC in rebounds per game (42.9). Defensively the Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank No. 11 in turnovers forced per game (16.3).

Millender (12.0 ppg) is one of three players for Georgia who average double-figures. He leads the team in assists (3.7 apg) and is one of four Bulldog players who average at least one steal per contest. Cal transfer guard Jeremiah Wilkinson averages 17.2 points per game to lead the team in scoring. Junior guard Blue Cain, who has been a staple in the team’s backcourt the last three seasons averages 15.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

GAME INFORMATION
TIME: 2 p.m. (ET)
VENUE: Colonial Life Arena
TV: ESPN2
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Roy Philpott
    ANALYST: Jon Crispin
RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network 
IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game
    PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott
    ANALYST: Casey Manning
SIRIUSXM: 385 | SXM APP: 975
WATCH: espn.com/watch/
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
SERIES: 64-62, Gamecocks lead
IN COLUMBIA: 38-20, Gamecocks lead
SERIES TREND: Bulldogs are 4-2 over last six after Gamecocks had a 12-game win streak that lasted six seasons from Jan. 4, 2017 to Jan. 28, 2023.
LAST MEETING: Bulldogs won 73-64 on Senior Day in Columbia on March 4, 2024 last season.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
5 – Per the ESPN Basketball Power Index for the 2025-26 season, South Carolina’s remaining strength of schedule is No. 5 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.
47-10 – The Gamecocks are 47-10 in 4 seasons under Paris when holding teams below 70 points (.825 win %).
29-3 – Carolina is 29-3 under Paris last season when holding its opponents below 40% shooting from the floor. The team was 7-0 last season and is 5-0 this season when accomplishing the defensive feat.
7-0  – The Gamecocks are 7-0 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).
466 – Meechie Johnson (211) and Stute (255) have combined to make 466 3s in their college careers. Stute’s 255 career 3s are 18th amongst active career leaders in Division I. Johnson’s 211 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).
501 – Stute (144), Johnson (131), transfers Mike Sharavjamts (114) and Kobe Knox (112) have combined to play 501 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).
30 – Elijah Strong became the 26th different player (21st in SEC action) for SC since 2004-05 to have a 30-burger when he scored 30 points (18 in the first half) in just 25 minutes in a road win at LSU on Jan. 6. Strong was 10-for-15 (66.7%) from the floor and a perfect 4-of-4 from 3 and 6-of-6 at the free throw line.
9 & 5 – Strong became just the 9th player in D1 this season to have a 30-point game in 25 minutes or less (5 of those 8 previous 30-burgers were against non-D1 opponents). He also became just the 5th player since 2004-05 to do it in an SEC game. Alabama’s Brandon Miller was the last player to do it when he had 31 pts in 24 min vs. LSU on Jan. 14, 2023.
133 – Carolina has hit 133 3s (8.9 3FG per game) in the first 15 games of the season with a combined 78 different players hitting a shot from behind the arc in the 15 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
Carolina has a pair of road games, first facing No. 15/15 Arkansas (12-3, 2-0 SEC) at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday. Mike Morgan (pxp) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will be on the call for the 9 p.m. (ET) SEC Network broadcast.

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