South Carolina’s season opened with a glimpse of what this roster can look like when the pieces click, and now the Gamecocks get another test Sunday afternoon against Southeast Missouri State.
The headliner from Tuesday’s 81-55 win over Stetson was Juan Fernandez, the European import who is still less than two weeks from his 24th birthday but played like a polished veteran in his debut. He scored 20 points on 9-for-13 shooting and added seven rebounds in just 19 minutes.
“Juan made a couple of really aggressive, strong moves,” Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris said. “It shows growth for a guy, even though he’s 23 years old, he’s getting better.”
South Carolina (1-0) didn’t lean on Fernandez alone. Four teammates also reached double figures, with Camden Heide scoring 13 points, Jakub Necas and Davion Hannah finishing with 11 apiece, and Aleksas Bieliauskas adding 10. The Gamecocks shot 31-for-61 from the field, good for 50.8 percent, in a balanced opener.
“I’m really excited about how we got this thing started,” Paris said of the new season. “Excited about the ceiling that this team can achieve.”
SEMO arrives at 2-0 after handling its first two games with similar balance. The Redhawks opened with an 86-79 win over Lipscomb on Monday and followed that with a 90-65 victory over Webster two days later.
Five players are averaging double-figure scoring for SEMO so far, led by fourth-year guard Marqueas Bell, who is putting up 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Bell delivered 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Webster.
Darrion Sutton and Landren Blocker each scored 14 points in that win, while Fontaine Williams Jr. finished with 10 points and seven assists. SEMO led 42-37 at halftime before stretching the margin in the second half.
Picked by the media to finish second behind Tennessee State in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Redhawks have already shown they can spread the scoring around.
“I don’t think we have to be dependent on just one person,” head coach Brad Korn said of his squad. “There’s a lot of different ways that we can go.”
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For South Carolina, the matchup offers a chance to see how the first win holds up against a team that has already found some rhythm, while SEMO gets a shot at a Power Four road environment this early in the year. Broadcast details are part of the setup, but the bigger draw is the contrast in momentum, with both teams bringing recent success into a game that should offer a better read on where each stands right now. [Read more 🡒]