Three thoughts from MBB's 80-41 exhibition win over Mars Hill

South Carolina men's basketball took the court against a live opponent for the first time in the Lamont Paris era on Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena, taking on Division II school Mars Hill in an exhibition game.

The Gamecocks came away with a 80-41 victory. Four different players scored in double figures, led by 16 points from Meechie Johnson. A hot start shooting from beyond the arc helped South Carolina build up an early lead, as the Gamecocks knocked down four of their first seven attempts from 3-point range to build up a quick lead.

"One of the last things I said before we went out on the court for the first half was, 'you have to estbalish who you are, how you're going to play, what you're going to be about,'" Paris said. "I thought we did a good job overall of establishing who we're going to be. I thought it was a first step. Again, it's not done after today. I don't think anyone is going to say these guys are going to score 80 and give up 41, but I do think we laid a very good preliminary foundation as to what it's going to look like for us."

Here are three thoughts from the exhibition game before the team opens its regular season on Tuesday at home against South Carolina State.

If this first installment of the Paris era is going to turn into prosperous one, a lot of it will have to flow through Johnson, the transfer point guard from Ohio State.

His assist numbers will not reflect the way he moved the ball due to the collective shooting struggles for South Carolina, but most of the open looks the offense did manage to carve out were a result of his aggression to open up passing lanes.

There were times the aggression turned into a little bit too much though, mainly with his shot selection. There were a few points where possessions bogged down and his secondary option was to launch a 3-ball, as he did on the final possession of the first half and again after Mars Hill sniffed out a halfcourt set on an early second half trip.

"Sometimes that's going to be what's available," Paris said about Johnson's deep shooting. "I'm just a guy, honestly, that if you've proven that you can do something, then why wouldn't I have you doing that in the game? I just think it makes sense. That's a shot that he can make, so certainly he is allowed to shoot that shot."

South Carolina set the pace all night, but it never fully managed to pull away from Mars Hill on the scoreboard until the final 10 minutes of play. Largely, the Gamecocks could not get out of their own way with turnovers.

It was not a case of one player trying to do too much or a consistent defensive plan from Mars Hill that was causing problems, but rather a string of inconsistent possessions and a lack of cohesion on offense at times.

On the night South Carolina turned the ball over 11 times. GG Jackson turned the ball over four times, and nine different players committed at least one turnover. It was a little bit of everything, from sloppy passes to offensive fouls and some miscommunication on a young team.

The positive news is things did look better in the second half; South Carolina only had five of its 14 turnovers after halftime.

"Hopefully the turnover situation wasn't characteristic of what we're going to be as players," Paris said. "We had a lot in the first half, especially."

One of the questions for this team throughout the season will be about where depth offense will come from. Johnson is going to get his points while directing the offense and Jackson will be able to get his share using both his physical talent and his size underneath, but who else can consistently score?

This is going to be an ongoing battle for Paris and his coaching staff, but Chico Carter Jr. showed some promising signs. Not only did he flash his shooting strength by going 3-of-4 from 3-point range and 5-of-8 from the floor overall, but he did it with agression. There were three separate instances where the senior guard caught the ball in the corner and elected to drive along the baseline to the basket, two of which turned into easy layups and efficient offense.

He was in the middle of many of South Carolina's better defensive possessions on the night as well, coming up with one steal and also drawing a charge Paris said he was "fired up about" on one early second half Mars Hill possession.

"Chico has been really consistent, and he's improved so much," Paris said. "He's been really, really, really good at being committed to changing some things, and he's talented. He can make shots, and he plays at a pace that he can play off the shot fake. That yielded him a wide open layup today. We skipped it; great skip. I can't remember who it was, but great skip to the weak side. He shot faked it and danced all the way to the rim for a layup. He makes some good passes most of the time; he's a pretty versatile guy."