How to watch/what to look for: Road to March for South Carolina begins in North Florida

Last year was about proving everyone wrong. This year is still all about proving everyone wrong again, with the added challenge of getting back into The Big Dance and doing more.

South Carolina enjoyed a full season of success. The Gamecocks even got a taste of the NCAA Tournament. After their season ended in the round of 64, they’re looking to not only return to March Madness this year, but also start a longer run.

But it will still be a long way to get to this point. And it all starts on Monday when the regular season begins. South Carolina hosts North Florida in the season opener at Colonial Life Arena.

The launch time is at 7:00 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

Here are some things to look out for.

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Same starting five?

When South Carolina took the floor in an exhibition game against Wooster last Wednesday, Lamont Paris fielded a starting lineup that included Jamarii Thomas, Zachary Davis, Myles Stute, Collin Murray-Boyles and Nick Pringle.

This is undoubtedly a veteran-led roster with plenty of college basketball experience. Thomas and Pringle are the two freshmen who were considered starters from the moment they moved here. Murray-Boyles was the biggest lock to start again this year, albeit now at four instead of five where he was last year.

Since Davis is a solid defender, he felt like a safe bet to start again this year. He didn’t shoot well in the exhibition game, but it’s one game and with the work he’s done it should come with time.

The only one who could have been a surprise was Mare. Now, he started 17 games last year, but there are other options that could have filled that guard spot. However, it makes sense to start it. He is one of the oldest on this team. He didn’t have a great shooting night last week either, but he will be a valuable part of what the team does this year.

Things can always change, but it would be surprising if there were new faces in the squad on Monday. Some of the players who came on performed well last week. But it might feel too early to launch some of these right away. Let them get into their roles and go from there.

Free throw shooting needs to be better

This is nothing new. South Carolina has been dealing with this problem for years. For some reason, the Gamecocks were unable to hit their free throws consistently, which proved costly in some games (home loss to Georgia last year).

As a team, they posted a 71.1 percent shooting percentage on the charity strike, which ranked 225th in college basketball. Admittedly, this was a team with some faces that are no longer there. But you can argue that this year’s team could perform worse from the line if things don’t improve.

It’s important to remember that this was essentially a glorified scrimmage, but South Carolina outscored Wooster 9-20 at the line. That’s good for a free throw rate of 45 percent. Translation: not very good. It may not come back to bite the Gamecocks against weaker teams, but in bigger non-conference games and SEC games, these numbers need to be better.

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Jamarii Thomas will be fine

There were definitely concerns about Thomas’ appearance in the exhibition. The transfer guard finished the game with one point on 0 of 4 shooting from the field and 0 of 3 from three-point range.

He only played 14 minutes in the game, partly due to his performance. But it was also because Paris wanted to involve other players in a glorified scrimmage. But Paris was happy with the energy and the way he played in defense. Paris continued that he “set the tone defensively” for the Gamecocks.

So the point is: don’t take too much stock in what happened last week. Thomas will be a key factor in this team’s success this season. The shots will come. The good news for him is that his defense was good, proving he is much more than just a goalkeeper.

Expect to hear a lot about Cam Scott and Arden Conyers

Scott and Conyers may not start for the Gamecocks on Monday, but you can expect to see them on the floor a lot this season. In the exhibition game, both scored 16 points each and showed a lot of potential.

When it comes to Conyers specifically, when it’s his turn, it’s his turn. He has the ability to take over a game with his shooting skills. Paris said he believes the redshirt freshman guard is “offensively ready,” which is a good sign for him.

Scott will also play a lot of minutes in every game this season. There’s always a chance that one or both will make it into the starting lineup at some point. But for now, the fact that they are coming off the bench shows how deep this squad is.

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Scout out the enemy

Last season was a year of ups and downs for North Florida, to say the least. The Ospreys have simply never been consistent. They got a few wins and then lost the next few games. As a result, they finished the year 16-16 as their season came to an end after a loss in the first round of the ASUN Conference Tournament.

The expectations of the team haven’t changed too much this season. KenPom projects North Florida to finish 15-16, which would be one game worse than last season. The Ospreys return a full-time starter from last year’s squad in Nate Lliteras, who started all 31 games. With 10.4 points per game, he was their third-best scorer. They lost Chaz Lanier, who averaged 19.7 PPG, and Ametri Moss, who had 10.7 PPG.

Otherwise, the team will have other players who started games again, but none of them started as often as Lliteras. Other key returnees with starting experience include Jaylen Smith, Jasai Miles and Oscar Berry. Smith was a standout as he earned All Freshman honors in the conference.

There are eight new additions to North Florida’s roster, four of which are true freshmen and the other four are transfers.

The team is led by head coach Matthew Driscoll, who has been with the Ospreys since 2009. During that time, he has gone 233-247 (.485). Despite the losing record, he is actually over .500 in conference play as a head coach. North Florida has gone 135-109 since Driscoll originally took the reins.

If there was one area this team was really good at last year, shooting would have to be at the top of the list. As a group, the Ospreys shot 53.6 percent, a top-50 finish in college basketball. They also shot pretty well from outside at a clip of 35.9 percent.

Defensively things were a lot more mixed, which is why they finished with the record they did. They ranked 318th in adjusted defensive performance and were near the bottom of the game in many defense-based categories.

South Carolina should be fine and won’t have much trouble winning this game. But if there is one concern, it would be that it starts slowly. The Gamecocks may not be able to afford to start slow if the Ospreys come out swinging. But either way, they should be able to weather any storm and get the job done.

Game details

Who: South Carolina vs. North Florida

When: Monday, November 4th at 7 p.m

Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)

How to Watch/Listen: SEC Network Plus/107.5 The Game

KenPom gives South Carolina a 93 percent chance of winning