South-Carolina
Xs and Oats: South Carolina is the most paradoxical team on the SEC road schedule
For a variety of reasons, basketball is the most difficult of the Big Four North American sports in which to notch a road win. Mercurial performances between home and away games are the norm as often as not. (FWIW, the most recent data from last January pegged the chances of picking up a road win at 31%). That’s why teams like Indiana and UCLA can get pimped in Lincoln by the thoroughly average Cornhuskers, and then that same Nebraska team can lose by 37 to Michigan State (which actually happened this year). Teams often stand on their head at home and are able to score seemingly-improbable upsets.
But fresh off a defenestration of No. 12 Oklahoma that was so thorough it would make Russian oil tycoons nervous, the No. 5 Crimson Tide travel to South Carolina to face one of (perhaps the) most baffling team on its SEC road schedule. Because these ‘Cocks can play well enough to beat 12-3 Clemson, yet are simultaneously bad enough to lose four games with the 271st ranked SOS, including to North Florida (7-8, No. 217). And do both at home.
Let’s take a look at USCe and what the Tide can expect to see Wednesday when it opens SEC road play.
Tale of the Tape: No. 74 South Carolina (10-4) vs No. 5 Alabama (12-2)
Preliminary Spread (certainly subject to change): Alabama -16.5 (O/U 153.5)
Opponent KenPom: 74 (103 offense, 65 defense, 259 tempo)
Opponent Evan Miya: 78 (101 offense, 69 defense, 266 tempo)
Opponent Bart Torvik: 93 (137 offense, 79 defense, 190 tempo)
Opponent NET: 93 (Q2)
Opponent RPI: 54
Opponent Best KenPom Win: Clemson (32)
Opponent Worst KenPom Loss: North Florida (217)
UA Ken Pom: 9th (5 Off, 44th Defense, 5th Tempo)
UA Evan Miya: 7th (3 Off, 25th Defense, 1st Tempo)
UA Bart Torvik: 7 (4 Off, 34th Defense, 4th Tempo)
UA NET Ranking: 9 (7-2 Q1/2)
UA RPI: 3
UA Best KenPom Win: No. 4 (N) Houston
UA Worst KenPom Loss: No. 26 at Purdue
You’d like to be able to point to any one thing for the Gamecocks and say “That! That is what they do well.” But, the problem is, outside of getting to the free throw line, there’s absolutely nothing about South Carolina — offensively or defensively — that takes them out of average-to-sometimes-bad territory. But, if you were going to hesitantly pin any label on USC, it would “team that is defined by its post play, with a lot of asterisks.”
If “almost” were a team, it would be South Carolina. They are almost good at stuff without truly being good in any one area.
- As we saw last week with Oklahoma, the Gamecocks run a five-out system, with Lamont Paris emphasizing “action with pace.” The problem is, the USC guards are good enough of a shooting threat to put some pressure on opposing backcourts — but there’s no true must-guard perimeter player: three guys shoot right at average, with only sixth man Morris Ugusk well above that.
- It’s a team that minimizes turnovers, and leans into defense — while at the same time not being very good at forcing turnovers and being merely average in both floor and perimeter defense.
- It it a team that does its best work when it feeds the two forwards out of a painfully slow offense — while not being a good offensive rebounding club.
- It is a team that does an outstanding job of getting to the free throw line (perhaps their biggest strength) — while also being a terrible free throw shooting team and sending opposing shooters to the line far too often.
There’s no balance, certainly no pace, and too often USC finds itself playing a two-man screen-and-roll game, praying for an easy bucket in the post or a trip to the line. However, it’s also a risky strategy, one that affords little room for error. And when it’s just not panning out, when opponents are cleaning up on the glass or not sending USC to the stripe, there’s not enough firepower to shoot USCe back into the game.
So they are almost good at a lot of stuff, and on any given night, USC can be a competent basketball team. But is is a team of generalists trying to win with ugly basketball and marginal talent, which means that they have to win by drawing fouls, making opponents play their pace, and trying to keep the score in the low 70s. In fact, that is the magic number: USC has not lost a game where they have hit 71 points.
All of this has resulted in a first for the Tide this year. South Carolina is the only Alabama opponent to-date to under-play its schedule. Depending on your analytical service of choice, the Gamecocks are 1 to 2.3 games below their expected win total. And that shows in the results too. They’re 1-3 against T1 and T2 opponents vs. their very soft schedule, and even picked up a loss to a T4. For the Tide, this will be a Q2 NET opponent solely because it is on the road, but based on the first third of the season, USC will flirt with the 90s in NET all year. And that assumes they hold serve against some of the conference’s weaker opponents (Missouri, LSU, perhaps Vanderbilt, etc.).
You want to at least be complimentary of Nick Pringle’s new team. And Lamont Paris is a genuinely likable guy. But this club reminds you a lot of Ben Howland’s Mississippi State squads: all-defense with little counterpunch…though with less individual talent (taken as a whole).
Key Personnel
USC’s offense is driven by the forwards on a team that will be one of the smallest the Tide face all season.
Hometown sophomore Collin Murray-Boyles is having a great season, leading USC in floor shooting by a wide margin (61.7%), scoring (15.8), rebounds (9.4), blocks (1.4), and is second behind only PG Jamarii Thomas in assists (2.5). The biggest knock on CMB is that he’s really gimpy, and will turn it over a bunch. Per-touch, he leads the Gamecocks in TO rate, and in raw terms averages 3 a night. But in that same Gamecock paradox we’ve seen almost across the board, he’s also a good on-ball defender, and has nimble klepto skills.
He’s joined in the frontcourt by the ever-energetic Nick Pringle. The former ‘Bama F finally got the minutes and starting job he was after, and he’s making the most of it. Pringle is USC’s third leading scorer (10.5), and second in rebounding and blocks. He’s cut down on his turnovers too from those reckless ‘Bama years, and is having a solid all-around season. How good? He’s almost 2:1 assist-to-turnovers on the year. Good for him. We love Pringle. And while CMB is probably going to get the most attention, Pringle is the best interior defender for USC, and you can bet he’s going to sell-out to stop Alabama’s post game.
Among the guards, the man to watch is PG Jamarii Thomas. He leads the Gamecocks in minutes played, assists, steals, and is second in scoring. He’s the most valuable ballhandler and small defender on the team, and one of four players in their thin rotation that all shoot around 35-36% from the perimeter.
Zachary Davis is their Little Engine That Could, and the best rebounder of the bunch. While a limited offensive player, he’s very physical and hammers the glass on a team that is relatively poor at chasing their misses. Meanwhile, Jacobi Wright is probably USC’s second-best overall guard in terms of ballhandling, perimeter shooting, defense, and distribution. Weirdly, for a combo guard, he’s pretty awful from the free throw line (sub-70%). But that’s not out of the ordinary for the Gamecocks: among the starters, the “best” shoots just 77% on a team that is sub-70% overall. Yuck.
The Gamecocks only go eight deep (seven, most nights), and their bench scoring is even more limited than the starting rotation. It’s the worst in the SEC, and in the bottom third nationally, with just 28% of their scoring coming from guys 6-13.
CMB and Jamarii will be the defensive focus, without doubt.
How To Watch
Wednesday, Jan 8, 6:00 Central SEC Network
Prediction
The biggest threat to the Tide in this game is losing focus. USC is not a great shooting team, though it has some competent shooters. It’s not a great rebounding team overall, but it’s a high-energy team. It’s not a sloppy team, and it has limited weapons, but it will try to force its style of play, bleed clock, and make Alabama get impatient.
Consider this a trial balloon for what we will see much of the season. This is going to be the first of many games where the opponent tries to drag Alabama into a mudwrestling contest, bleed the clock, and take the air out of the ball. It’s up to the Tide to not get the big head, not get frustrated, and then make the most of their offensive opportunities — even if they have to shoot 30 free throws to get there. If Alabama leverages size and speed, and if they put forth some of that defensive energy we saw the first half of Oklahoma, this could be a rare road rout.
Alabama 84
South Carolina 65
Hope for the best.
Roll Tide.
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South-Carolina
Editorial: SC Legislature left DUI and THC bills for dead; DUI restrictions can be revived
It’s astounding, in a state that won’t even allow tightly controlled medical marijuana use, that South Carolina has no restrictions on what is essentially recreational marijuana, in the form of highly intoxicating THC products that are sold at convenience stores to anyone who wants them.
It’s the result of hardline Republicans and Freedom Caucuseers on the right who insist on an outright ban even though there’s clearly not sufficient support for that and Democrats who — in a repeat of the alliances that allowed video gambling to thrive for years in our state — reject even the most modest of limits on convenience-store and other small-business sales of hemp-derived products.
This unholy coalition means that for another year — barring federal changes that might be coming — kids who can’t even legally purchase alcohol will be able to walk into convenience stores and purchase THC-infused gummies and seltzers, no questions asked.
What’s even more astounding — and outrageous — is that the stalemate over this matter has endangered a hard-fought effort to reduce South Carolina’s status as the most deadly state for DUI deaths per capita and per mile driven.
Our distinction comes largely as a result of a state law that practically begs drivers to refuse the breath test that is nearly essential for a conviction. A law that requires police to produce a practically perfect video of any tests they manage to administer. A law that forces judges to tell jurors it’s just fine for them to ignore that 0.15 percent blood-alcohol content if the driver just didn’t look all that drunk to them on the perfect video.
Sen. Tom Davis, the chief sponsor of S.52 (and coincidentally, the chief sponsor of bills to legalize medical marijuana), tells us a central effort behind his anti-driving-under-the-influence bill was to make it easier to do blood tests on intoxicated drivers, since breath tests detect only alcohol. We don’t know for sure how big a role legal and illegal cannabis plays in crashes and even deaths — some estimates go as high as 40 percent — but we are certain it’s not zero.
S.52 also would raise penalties for repeat drunken drivers and remove some of the provisions that make it easy for drunk drivers to get off on technicalities.
But the blood-test efforts — which were watered down but not eliminated in a House-Senate conference committee — weren’t the reason the Legislature failed to pass a DUI bill on June 25. The THC provisions in the DUI bill, after all, were not particularly tough. The DUI bill instead was held hostage when Senate Democrats refused to vote for bills that needed a two-thirds vote to pass because they included language that wasn’t in either the House or Senate version. S.52 was on that short list.
The weird good news is that the House voted to reject the THC bill, which Sen. Davis hopes will free up that bill’s supporters to vote for the DUI compromise. And that needs to happen when the Legislature returns to Columbia to pass a budget.
Of course even if budget negotiators do reach a deal on the budget and the Legislature returns to pass it and the DUI bill does become law, it won’t do as much to save lives as the Senate-passed version of the bill, because House leaders, many of whom make a living representing drunk drivers, oppose a DUI law that includes many of the provisions that are commonplace in nearly every other state.
As Mothers Against Drunk Drivers’ Steven Burritt tells us, while the compromise contains some significant improvements, it also creates new loopholes. “It’s frustrating,” he said, “that the original mission of only making the DUI law simpler, fairer and tougher was apparently too much to ask for some.”
But while we urge Senate negotiators to try once more to get some concessions from House negotiators, the fact is that even the inadequate current version will result in the conviction and punishment of a few more people who are driving while they’re drunk or under the influence of THC or cocaine or pain pills or another intoxicant. It will require a few more intoxicated drivers to use ride-share or ride with friends because they have an ignition-interlock system that prevents them from starting their vehicle while impaired. It might even cause a few more people to decide not to drive when they have absolutely no business driving.
And that in turn will prevent a few crashes that leave innocent victims with bills they shouldn’t have to pay and inconveniences they shouldn’t have to endure and injuries they shouldn’t have to suffer. It’ll save a few more lives — and save a few more of our neighbors and friends from the heartbreak of their loved ones’ deaths. And it will cost innocent members of our society absolutely nothing.
But only if the Legislature finally passes S.52. There is no acceptable excuse not to do so.
Click here for more opinion content from The Post and Courier.
LEXINGTON, S.C. (WCSC) — South Carolina recorded a significant decline in drug overdose deaths in 2024, marking the second consecutive year fatalities have decreased and the first back-to-back annual decline in more than a decade, according to newly released data from the South Carolina Department of Public Health.
State health officials reported just under 1,500 overdose deaths in 2024, a 31% decrease from 2023. The reduction represents nearly 500 lives saved compared with the previous year and is being credited to expanded access to overdose-reversal medications, increased public awareness and broader prevention efforts across the state.
“Even one is too many,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, acting director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said. “Almost 500 — that’s almost 500 people’s loved ones that are alive that might not have been, and so that is a big deal.”
Charleston, Greenville and Horry counties recorded the highest numbers of overdose deaths in 2024, followed by Richland and Lexington counties. Statewide, adults ages 35 to 44 were the age group most affected by fatal overdoses.
Meanwhile, Jasper, Georgetown and Spartanburg counties saw some of the largest declines in overdose deaths compared with the previous year.
Health leaders say expanded availability of naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, has played a key role in reducing fatalities. The medication can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and has become more widely available through public health agencies, community organizations and harm-reduction programs.
Amber Frazier, who works with The Courage Center and has experienced the impact of substance use disorder firsthand, said overdoses continue to affect families across South Carolina.
“At first, when you hear about it, it’s kind of like, ‘Is this real?’ and then reality hits you,” Frazier said, reflecting on the loss of loved ones to addiction.
Officials and recovery advocates say the decline also reflects increased education efforts and a growing willingness among people struggling with addiction to seek treatment.
“Really trying to continue to decrease the stigma around it, truly recognizing it is a disease,” Traxler said. “Just like we want to make treatment available for diabetics, we want to make treatment available for this.”
Marc Burrows, executive director of Challengers Inc. of South Carolina, said continued investment in harm-reduction strategies will be needed to sustain the progress.
“We need to keep pushing, keep distributing naloxone, keep focusing on harm-reduction interventions and continue to get these services to the people that need them,” Burrows said.
Despite the encouraging trend, health officials emphasized that the overdose crisis remains a serious public health challenge and that every overdose death represents a family and community affected by loss.
Frazier urged South Carolinians to remember the humanity of those struggling with addiction.
“Just remember that next time you see someone, that is someone’s mother, daughter, father, brother, sister or cousin,” she said. “That is another human being.”
The Department of Public Health continues to offer free overdose safety kits through local health departments across South Carolina, with no questions asked. Officials encourage anyone struggling with substance use disorder or concerned about a loved one to seek help and learn how to recognize and respond to an overdose.
Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTV) – The South Carolina National Guard on Friday lifted the suspensions of eight pilots who took part in a July Fourth flyover.
Eight Apache helicopter pilots who flew in the 2026 Salute from the Shore event in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, July 4, were initially suspended by the National Guard. The agency said the suspensions stemmed from events that day, adding the nonpunitive safety measure was routine and not a disciplinary action.
In a July 10 news release, the Guard said it lifted the suspensions and praised the 59th Aviation Troop Command as an “exceptional helicopter unit, renowned throughout the Army and the National Guard for its unwavering commitment to excellence and soldier safety.”
“The subject events of July 4th are no exception, as our pilots remain deeply committed to excellence and the highest standards of safety,” Maj. Lisa Allen said in the release.
–> Also read: ‘Truly sickened’: Remains of missing South Carolina girl recovered; parents face additional charge
Allen did not specify what prompted the suspensions, but said returning the pilots to flight status would help the Guard maintain peak operational readiness.
Copyright 2026 WBTV. All rights reserved.
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