What we learned from South Carolina men's basketball's win over Mizzou

COLUMBIA – Want some substance behind how offensively deficient South Carolina can be?

The Gamecocks (18-11, 9-8) went a 23-minute stretch where they did not turn the ball over, and yet, they could not put arguably the worst team in the SEC away in Missouri (10-20, 4-13) while it lasted. Mizzou trailed by nine points during the streak and closed within 55-50 with five minutes remaining.

South Carolina and the Tigers almost sleepwalked their way through Tuesday night's game inside Colonial Life Arena, where the homestanding Gamecocks held on to win, 73-69.

Devin Carter wills the Gamecocks to a much-needed win

The freshman scored 10 of South Carolina's last 18 points. How Carter did it is why it matters.

Carter didn't shy away from the moment, yet he literally ran to the high blood pressure situation as USC clung to slim leads. He slashed to the basket and finished when he got there. He knocked down a 3-pointer that proved to be the spark for the final 4:30 stretch for the Gamecocks.

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When a change of pace is needed, Frank Martin likely has found his guy as USC gears up for the final run.

South Carolina shoots Mizzou out of early zone

The Tigers came out in a matchup, 2-3 zone before switching to man. South Carolina found a little bit of success with baseline cuts against the zone but when Missouri went to face-guarding, Martin's team was forced to settle for too many jumpshots early.

Those jumpshots began falling in the later stages of the first half, led by its guards and USC seized control over an offensively inept Mizzou squad. Jermaine Couisnard, James Reese and Erik Stevenson knocked down 12 shots.

South Carolina must get Jermaine Couisnard plenty of looks going forward

With guys like Stevenson and Reese on the perimeter, it's understandable to think that sharing the wealth will better the Gamecocks' chances winning. I'm here to tell you that's not true.

Couisnard has taken the primary shooter's role on this team and he deserves most of the attempts. Look back the consecutive losses at Mississippi State and against Tennessee at home. Couisnard had just eight and four field goal attempts, respectively and USC not only drop those games, but weren't really competitive.

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Since, the junior guard has taken at least double-digit shots and South Carolina has won four of those six games. Couisnard has flourished as the team's primary option and the team reaped the rewards. He posted a team-high 17 points against Mizzou.

Couisnard is USC's best chance to potentially work its way into the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation and it needs to give him the opportunity to do so.

Curious case of Wildens Leveque

Does anyone know who Wildens Leveque is for USC? More importantly, the biggest question regarding the 6-10 forward is which version of him will show up every game.

That's been the issue Martin has had with the big man and his inconsistency has been the biggest head-scratcher for the Gamecocks. His first two seasons in Columbia saw consistent growth in his overall game and where he fit in with those teams.

Not has not been the case for Leveque in 2021-22. He dropped 16 points against No. 2 Kentucky a couple of weeks. Before the game with Mizzou, he scored a combined 18 points in five games.

While he didn't fill it up offensively, scoring just four points, Leveque found ways to effect the game with his rebounding and defense, something South Carolina will consistently need down the stretch of this season.

South Carolina basketball and how its postseason picture looks

Oddly enough, South Carolina gained a quadrant one victory Saturday, despite losing at No. 24 Alabama. Vanderbilt, who USC swept the season series against, moved up to inside the top 75 in NET ranking, therefore making South Carolina's win in Nashville earlier this season a quad one win.

The trick will be if the Commodores stay inside the top 75, on top of how the Gamecocks' fare at No. 3 Auburn Saturday afternoon. They didn't do themselves any favors by not winning by a larger margin against Missouri and they can't get blown out on the Plains.

Getting to 20 wins would certainly make South Carolina's resume look better for a possible NIT berth, but that's nothing guaranteed as what shakes out during conference tournaments across the country will carry plenty of weight for the Gamecocks.

Cory Diaz covers the South Carolina Gamecocks for The Greenville News as part of the USA Today Network. Follow his work for all things Gamecocks on Twitter: @CoryDiaz_TGN

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Key takeaways from South Carolina basketball's win over Mizzou