Augusta, a Division II school in Georgia, picked up a 77-72 win over South Carolina in exhibition action on Friday.
The Gamecocks held a 72-71 lead with 1:17 remaining in the second half, but the Jaguars finished the game on a 6-0 run to score the victory.
Tre Campbell led the way for Frank Martin’s team with 13 points while freshman guard AJ Lawson add 12.
Justin Minaya also finished in double figures with 10 points, with the sophomore earning a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds.
First Team All-SEC preseason selection Chris Silva had seven points, but did not play in the final 10 minutes of the game after picking up his fourth foul.
Martin’s squad struggled to shoot the ball well in all phases, which certainly didn’t help matters.
South Carolina shot 39.7 percent from the floor, 32.7 percent from 3-point range, and 56.7 percent from the free-throw line.
The Gamecocks will open up the regular season on Nov. 6 against USC Upstate.
Lovell’s Analysis
As I mentioned on the newest episode of the Southeast Hoops podcast, you can’t always read too much into outcomes of exhibition games.
However, when you notice concerning trends from a year ago still present entering a new season, it catches your eye a little bit.
South Carolina was simply not a good shooting team last season. The team finished 344th nationally in field-goal percentage at 39.8 percent – the worst of any power conference team – and made just 43.5 percent of its two-point field goals.
Friday’s results suggest that there are still problems that still need to be corrected in that aspect of the game.
And then there are Silva’s fouling issues. Martin said afterward that he chose to sit Silva for the last 10 minutes so that he could see how the Gamecocks played without him on the floor.
But Martin was equally irked by the senior’s fouling tendencies, which were a problem last season.
If the Gamecocks want to climb the SEC ladder this year, they’re going to need Silva on the court. It doesn’t take an exhibition loss – that, again, doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things – to understand why they’re better with him on the floor.
This will be a learning experience for a South Carolina team still trying to put it all together, and we should get a clearer picture of where Silva and company stand in the regular season opener.