Colonial Life Arena: South Carolina hit the Christmas break on a positive note Friday night with a 70-43 win over Elon. After three straight tight wins following a close loss at Clemson, the Gamecocks opened this game up in the second half to run their record to 11-1 including 7-0 at home.
The Gamecocks led by ten at halftime 30-20 thanks to a 15-4 run over the final 8:36 of the half. They outscored the Phoenix 17-8 over the first ten minutes of the second half to open up a 19-point lead at 47-28, and the rout was on from there. Elon got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
The Gamecocks played without leading scorer Meechie Johnson who missed the game with a knee issue that’s not believed to be serious. He’s listed as day-to-day. Ta’lon Cooper picked up the slack knocking down four three-pointers on his way to a 17-point performance, a season high for him with the Gamecocks.
Myles Stute added 14 points and eight rebounds. Jakobi Wright and Collin Murray-Boyles had 10 points each.
The Gamecocks shot just 41%. They attempted 30 three-pointers and made eight. They held Elon to 32% shooting matching their best defensive performance of the season. Elon was 2-14 on three-pointers, the fewest number of threes allowed by USC this season. The Gamecocks also won the boards 44-31 with 17 offensive rebounds, and they outscored the Phoenix 26-18 in the paint.
The 11-1 start for USC is the fourth time the Gamecocks have opened a season with 11 wins in their first 12 games. The last to do that was the 2015-16 team. The Gamecocks are now off until December 30th when they will host Florida A&M.