The Gamecocks defeated Winthrop in Columbia earlier today by a score of 86-63. While the Eagles had a decent run late in the first half to cut our lead to about 10, for the most part we dominated this game. Devan Downey led the way with 21 points, while Mike Holmes and Dominique Archie contributed double-doubles. Austin Steed continued to develop as a legitimate post threat off the bench, scoring 8 points on 4-6 shooting.
Winthrop was one of the non-con games that worried me coming into the season, so beating them in such convincing fashion is reason to be optimistic. Not that we should go booking our tickets to March Madness quite yet. For one, Winthrop is rebuilding this year and likely won't be quite the team they usually are. Moreover, we weren't perfect, only shooting 44% from the field and 65% from the line. We had a couple of dry spells that allowed the Eagles to keep it relatively close, which indicates that we're still prone to being a streaky team offensively.
However, we scored 86 points against a team that is known for its defense. Another bright spot was our performance on the boards. We had 22 offensive rebounds and 44 total, far better than the Eagles 13 and 32. That's not bad for a team that has been criticized for it's problems on the front line. All in all, this was a good victory.