South Carolina basketball finished the 2024-2025 regular season with a 12-19 overall record and a 2-16 mark in SEC play. However, that doesn’t mean that the Gamecocks are done playing basketball just yet. The SEC Tournament begins on Wednesday, March 13th, and USC could advance to the NCAA Tournament with a (miraculous?) championship run in Nashville.

South Carolina received a bit of a favorable draw through the early rounds. Arkansas–a team USC whipped just a week ago–is up first, and then, Ole Miss would be next. As far as hoping for an improbable run, that’s a good start. So, what else needs to change for the Gamecocks to shock the Southeastern Conference?

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Playing Defense

Let’s get this one out of the way. Unlike last season, South Carolina is not a great defensive team this year. However, the Gamecocks have the potential to limit opponents to low scoring outputs thanks to a slower-than-average pace of play and physical play. For Lamont Paris’ team to overcome its league-worst offense and win games, they have to keep the numbers on the scoreboard low.

For that to be possible, Carolina needs starting bigs Collin Murray-Boyles and Nick Pringle to lock down the paint. Murray-Boyles is one of the best overall defenders in the conference, and Pringle has higher potential on that end of the floor than his numbers might indicate. When reserves Jordan Butler and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk play, they have to hold their own, as well.

The most important part of the Gamecocks’ defensive effort, though, might be their 3-point defense. This season, South Carolina ranks 14th in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage allowed. Giving up easy looks from outside can’t happen in Nashville, or it will be a short stay in the Volunteer State.

Valuing the Basketball

On offense, South Carolina struggles. Perhaps the team’s biggest issue on that end of the floor is that they don’t value the basketball. The Gamecocks turn the ball over at the fourth-worst rate per game in the SEC. They also drop too many rebounds at times (not resulting in turnovers but losing a possession, nonetheless) and fumble passes that could have resulted in open shot attempts.

In South Carolina’s two SEC wins this year, the Gamecocks have averaged just 9.5 turnovers. In their 16 losses, that number is over 13 per game. Considering USC lost six SEC games this season by just one or two possessions and nine SEC games by 10 points or fewer, that 3.5-turnover average difference was impactful. Improving ball security should be a major priority this week.

Running the Offense

South Carolina’s point guard play has been a major point of conversation all this season. Neither Jamarii Thomas nor Jacobi Wright are traditional point guards but have been forced into starting duties on the perimeter this year. Whether it is Thomas or Wright stepping up as facilitators or secondary distributors like Collin Murray-Boyles or Zach Davis doing so, the Gamecock playmakers need to do a good job of running their offense and setting up their teammates.

In stark contrast to the Ta’Lon Cooper-led offense of a season ago, this year’s Gamecocks rank 14th in the SEC in total assists and barely have a positive assist-turnover ratio.

Carolina hasn’t won a game this year in which they have had fewer than 12 assists. They also are 7-3 in games in which they’ve dished out at least 15 dimes. That’s an impressive number for a team that has just 12 wins all year. Copying that blueprint will be essential if South Carolina has any shot at making an unexpected run this week.

Earning Confidence

To win five games at the SEC Tournament, South Carolina will have to play with more confidence than they have all year. The Gamecocks could earn some of that needed confidence in the tourney’s early rounds.

A week ago, South Carolina smacked the Arkansas Razorbacks around to the tune of a 72-53 win. The game also wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. Perhaps that could serve as a springboard into better play. Plus, if the Gamecocks pick up a pair of wins on Wednesday (Arkansas) and Thursday (Ole Miss), that would be the team’s first two-game winning streak since December.

What might South Carolina be able to accomplish if they consistently play with confidence for the first time in months?

Getting a Little Lucky

Frankly, unless a team is dominant (and South Carolina is not that), tournament runs require a little bit of luck. So far this season, the Gamecocks have not been very lucky.

In fact, according to hoops analytics guru Ken Pomeroy, USC ranks 343rd nationally in luck. That means that only 21 teams in the country have had a worse ratio of positive play to positive results this season. Essentially, Carolina has deserved to win several games this year that they wound up losing.

For an SEC Tournament run to happen for the men in garnet and black, the Gamecocks likely need Lady Luck to be on their side more than she has been.

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South Carolina’s SEC Tournament road starts on Wednesday. The No. 16-seed Gamecocks’ matchup with the No. 9-seed Arkansas Razorbacks will tip at Noon. SEC Network will broadcast the game, while the ESPN app makes it available via streaming.