Three things to watch for in South Carolina men’s basketball’s exhibition vs. Wofford

There are a lot of questions surrounding South Carolina’s men’s basketball team.

How different will USC be from last year? Can the Gamecocks improve from their 12th-place SEC finish? How will Lamont Paris’ new group gel? Wednesday’s exhibition game might begin to answer those questions.

USC men’s basketball hosts an exhibition game against Wofford College on Wednesday evening, five days before the regular season begins.

The exhibition game is also benefiting the Maui Strong fund, raising money to benefit local businesses and families devastated by the Hawaii wildfires over the summer.

The Gamecocks took part in an open intrasquad scrimmage last week for its Garnet & Black Madness event, but this will be the first time USC faces a true opponent since the team’s summer trip to the Bahamas. The exhibition against Wofford is the only one scheduled before Monday’s season opener against USC Upstate.

South Carolina was ranked last in the SEC preseason poll for the second-straight season, and Paris said the Gamecocks are determined to put on a better showing with more experienced players.

“I guess it’s convenient,” Paris said at SEC media day of the preseason ranking. “Maybe you like this coach better. This coach is smarter. This coach has more experience. This player that we picked up you don’t think he’s very good. I don’t know. We’re much more significantly skilled, significantly more experienced, and we did not finish last last year.”

Five transfers and four freshmen make up the newest faces of South Carolina men’s basketball, all joining returners Meechie Johnson, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Josh Gray, Jacobi Wright and Zachary Davis.

One of the newer Gamecocks, BJ Mack, gets to make his USC debut against his former program. Mack played roughly two minutes of the 20-minute open scrimmage, after Paris said the forward has dealing with soreness and was taking “precautionary measures” during the scrimmage.

There’s going to be a lot of watch for, but here are three key questions the Gamecocks will start answering:

Who can shoot 3-pointers?

Paris likes 3. He’s said it time and time again throughout the preseason. Last season, the Gamecocks were last in the SEC in scoring per game with an average of 64.3 points. They were 244-of-755 from beyond the arc (32.3%).

“I think if you can get some guys that can shoot the ball from 3 and make ‘em, defenders have a tendency to overreact,” Paris said. “That overreaction allows guys that aren’t great drivers to be great drivers if they’re good decision-makers. It allows the floor to be spread, allows guys to play one on one in the post a little bit more.”

Wright is the top returning 3-point shooter from last season, after Chico Carter Jr. entered the transfer portal in the offseason. Johnson took the most threes of any Gamecock, attempting over 120 last year.

And during USC’s team scrimmage last week, Johnson took the most 3s (3-of-5) again. Minnesota transfer guard Ta’Lon Cooper wasn’t far behind, showing glimpses of his quick releases from way back. But things could look different when USC isn’t playing itself.

Will Paris’ squad still go for 3-pointers? Absolutely. It’s just a matter of how often and how many players can hit 3s in a game setting.

How will Myles Stute fit this team?

Stute, a guard from Vanderbilt, joined the team in April after one of his best collegiate seasons. He averaged 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and scored 74 3-pointers last season.

Getting a player like Stute boosts USC’s depth. He can blend in as a point guard or shooting guard with his playmaking abilities. Paris can use him in multiple different ways, and he can help balance Johnson and Cooper’s skills as point guards.

Stute’s role is just one question in discovering the Gamecocks’ lineup that’s yet to be answered. Paris recruited transfers who have similar capabilities, so how will he choose to piece the starting five together?

“He’s just a experienced guy,” Paris said off Stute. “He’s emotionally stable as a player. He’ll do whatever you ask him to do.”

How mature does this team look?

Last season, USC’s roster began with 122 career starts. That number is now 480.

This roster has played a lot of basketball. While not every player has SEC experience, a good bit of the group has seen their fair share of what Division I men’s basketball looks like.

After losing seven players in the offseason, both to eligibility rules and the transfer portal, USC is going to look entirely different. And this year, Paris said this is a much more mature team.

The Gamecocks had the advantage of playing in the Bahamas over the summer, which means they have played against teams already. Fans just haven’t seen them play yet. Paris said that Bahamas trip already benefited the Gamecocks’ development, even if it’s not exactly where he wants them to be just yet.

“There’s no way anybody’s got a finished product today,” he said. “If so, wow. I think it’s a dangerous thing to feel like you’d be playing your best basketball right now. So we’re just getting started in this process.”

South Carolina’s first four games

• Nov. 1 - vs. Wofford (exhibition), 7 p.m. (no TV or streaming)

• Nov. 6 - vs. USC Upstate, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

• Nov. 10 - Virginia Tech/Hall of Fame Series in Charlotte (ACC Network)

• Nov. 13 - vs. VMI, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)