Meechie Johnson scores 24, South Carolina beats DePaul 73-68 at Arizona Tip-Off
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- — Meechie Johnson scored 24 points Friday night and South Carolina never trailed in its 73-68 win over DePaul at the Arizona Tip-Off.
South Carolina (4-0) is off to its best start since the 2016-17 team, which lost 77-73 to Gonzaga in the Final Four, won its first eight games.
Johnson scored 12 points in a 20-6 run that gave the Gamecocks a 24-10 lead when he capped the spurt with a jumper and then a three-point play midway through the first half. South Carolina took a nine-point lead into intermission and stretched its lead to 58-44 when Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk made a layup with 12:18 to play. Elijah Fisher and K.T. Raimey each hit a 3-pointer as the Blue Demons scored 11 of 14 points to trim their deficit to six with 5 minutes to go and Da’Sean Nelson hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 67-62 with 2:35 remaining. Johnson answered with two free throws 13 seconds and the Gamecocks, who shot just 59% (20 of 34) from the charity stripe, made 4 of 6 from the foul line from there to seal it.
Chico Carter Jr. — a native of Columbia and a graduate transfer from South Carolina — scored 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting for DePaul (1-3).
Zachary Davis added 10 points for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina plays Grand Canyon in the Cactus Division title game, and DePaul plays San Francisco in the third-place game, on Sunday.
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Game Information
- Referees:
- Frank Harvey
- Robert Lehigh
- Tommy Nunez
2023-24 Southeastern Conference Standings
Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
---|---|---|---|
Tennessee | 14-4 | - | 27-9 |
Auburn | 13-5 | 1 | 27-8 |
South Carolina | 13-5 | 1 | 26-8 |
Kentucky | 13-5 | 1 | 23-10 |
Alabama | 13-5 | 1 | 25-12 |
Florida | 11-7 | 3 | 24-12 |
Texas A&M | 9-9 | 5 | 21-15 |
LSU | 9-9 | 5 | 17-16 |
Mississippi State | 8-10 | 6 | 21-14 |
Ole Miss | 7-11 | 7 | 20-12 |
Georgia | 6-12 | 8 | 20-17 |
Arkansas | 6-12 | 8 | 16-17 |
Vanderbilt | 4-14 | 10 | 9-23 |
Missouri | 0-18 | 14 | 8-24 |
2023-24 Big East Conference Standings
Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
---|---|---|---|
UConn | 18-2 | - | 37-3 |
Marquette | 14-6 | 4 | 27-10 |
Creighton | 14-6 | 4 | 25-10 |
Seton Hall | 13-7 | 5 | 25-12 |
St. John's | 11-9 | 7 | 20-13 |
Providence | 10-10 | 8 | 21-14 |
Villanova | 10-10 | 8 | 18-16 |
Butler | 9-11 | 9 | 18-15 |
Xavier | 9-11 | 9 | 16-18 |
Georgetown | 2-18 | 16 | 9-23 |
DePaul | 0-20 | 18 | 3-29 |