By james art 
It’s just one game. It’s awfully hard to judge a team entirely based on a sample size of one game. But eyebrows were certainly raised and not in a good way.
In a game filled with adversity, South Carolina opened the 2024-25 regular season with a shocking 74-71 loss to North Florida on Monday. After so much talk about what’s next after making the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks are off to an 0-1 start.
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How did it happen?
Like their exhibition game against Wooster, the Gamecocks got off to a slow start and played sloppy. Between the turnovers and missed penalty kicks, they couldn’t get much going in the opening minutes.
After shooting just over 45 percent from the free throw line last week, South Carolina went 7-of-14 early in the half, unable to convert its opportunities.
North Florida also couldn’t find its rhythm early on. But one thing the Ospreys did a lot of last season was shoot threes, which they did more than any team in all of college basketball. And right out of the gate, that was the case on Monday. They went 5-for-17 from three-point range in the first half.
As the Ospreys began to hit some of their shots, it made it difficult for the Gamecocks to gain control. But they eventually went on a 7-0 run, capped by a Jordan Butler corner 3-pointer, to take a seven-point lead less than four minutes into the break.
But tough shots continued to fall at times for North Florida despite South Carolina’s best defensive efforts. Still, despite not playing their best basketball by any means, the Gamecocks were able to take a five-point lead into halftime.
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Once again, the Gamecocks got off to a slow start in the second half. The only good news was that North Florida wasn’t playing any better and still couldn’t regain the lead. After hitting their first three shots, the Ospreys made just one of their next seven shots.
With less than seven minutes left, North Florida started to catch fire and hit six of seven shots at one point. However, South Carolina was still fighting for its lead, which continued to dwindle to one.
The Gamecocks slowly started to look like they were coming out of their funk, hitting three straight with a layup by Collin Murray-Boyles and two good shots by Jacobi Wright. But the Ospreys would not go away and continued to fight back with shots of their own.
With less than two minutes left, North Florida hit back-to-back 3-pointers to regain the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game. It gave the Ospreys the momentum they so desperately needed to be in the driver’s seat and in control of how the rest of this game would play out.
Needing a stop or a foul, South Carolina had the worst possible outcome and fouled Jaylen Smith on his way to the rim for a one-and-one to give the Ospreys the cushion they needed to hang on and win.
Two observations
Free throw shooting is concerned…It’s easy to say that South Carolina should have no problem taking easy free throws. That’s a fair criticism. The Gamecocks shot just 50 percent from the line at halftime. And they weren’t much better as the game wore on. They finished just 14-for-25, one of the main reasons they lost that game.
Slow startup is not ideal –Are we judging all of this by a very small sample size? yes That’s what we have to base this team on though. South Carolina should be fine in the long run. The team has proven to be capable of overcoming any obstacles under the guidance of Lamont Parris. But it’s still very troubling that the Gamecocks failed to capitalize on their opportunities. It didn’t help that North Florida just wouldn’t go away. It’s one thing to play it slow and eventually find a way, but they just can never pull away.
Key statistics
56 percent-If there’s any reason why this game was as close as it was, look no further than South Carolina’s terrible free throw percentage. The Gamecocks were just 14-for-25 on their free throw attempts.
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A turning point
After holding onto the lead for most of the game, South Carolina eventually let things slip and allowed North Florida to come from behind. Camryn Oriol hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 64, then Jasai Miles hit a 3-pointer to take the lead for good with less than two minutes to play.
Next up
South Carolina will return home to face SC State on Friday. Tip off at 7:00pm on SEC Network Plus.