South Carolina learned something important when the bench disappeared

South Carolina’s first exhibition game was supposed to be about getting the new roster on the court.

Instead, it became an early test of something that could matter much more once the real season begins.

How does this team function when there are not many players available?

The Gamecocks had only nine players dress against College of Charleston on Sunday.

Chloe Kitts, Ashlyn Watkins, Kesli Andrews, Jerzy Robinson and Kaeli Wynn warmed up but did not play.

Alicia Tournebize did not warm up.

Then Ayla McDowell left the game after appearing to cut her lip when she collided with a Charleston player.

Suddenly, South Carolina had even less room for error.

And the game still ended with a 91-60 Gamecock victory.

That is what makes the exhibition more interesting than the final score suggests.

The first quarter exposed the problem

South Carolina did not walk into Credit One Stadium and immediately look like the team everyone expected.

Charleston led 20-19 after the opening quarter.

The Cougars shot 8-for-18 during that period and repeatedly created extra possessions with offensive rebounds.

By the end of the game, Charleston had collected 24 offensive rebounds.

That is the kind of number that would normally dominate the conversation after a South Carolina game.

But the Gamecocks found another way to control the night.

Then the game changed

South Carolina opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run.

The difference was not simply one player getting hot.

The ball started moving.

Four different Gamecocks scored during that stretch.

South Carolina eventually took a 44-28 lead into halftime after shooting 10-for-12 in the second quarter.

That sequence may be more useful to Dawn Staley than the final margin.

The Gamecocks had already discovered that they could not simply wait for their full roster to return.

They had to make the players available matter.

And they did.

Joyce Edwards gave them an anchor

Edwards finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds.

Eight of those rebounds came on the offensive glass.

She also added two blocks and two assists.

Those numbers matter because South Carolina needed someone who could create possessions when the lineup was thin.

Edwards did that.

She was not just producing points.

She was giving South Carolina another opportunity when the first possession failed.

That becomes especially important when a team is playing with nine available players and cannot afford long stretches of empty possessions.

Tessa Johnson provided the other piece

Johnson finished with 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

She shot 9-for-16 from the field.

Her performance also showed something different from Edwards.

South Carolina could get production from the perimeter while Edwards controlled the interior.

That combination helped the Gamecocks recover from the slow opening quarter without needing a deep rotation.

Jordan Lee quietly changed the equation

The Texas transfer did not have the easiest start.

But she finished with 15 points and made all four of her 3-point attempts, according to South Carolina Athletics.

That is one of the most interesting developments from the game.

Lee did not need a huge volume of shots to become an important part of the offense.

She simply punished Charleston when opportunities appeared.

For a team replacing major pieces from last season, that type of shooting could eventually create more room for everyone else.

The strange part is that the biggest lesson was not the 31-point margin

South Carolina’s first outdoor game was obviously unusual.

The court was constructed over the tennis courts at Credit One Stadium, and the Gamecocks had to deal with changing outdoor conditions and the setting sun before the stadium lights took over.

The weather ultimately did not become the problem some expected.

The bigger test came from inside the roster.

South Carolina had limited bodies.

Charleston attacked the offensive glass.

The Gamecocks started slowly.

And yet, once South Carolina settled down, the game became much more controlled.

That makes Sunday’s exhibition worth remembering for a reason beyond the novelty of playing basketball outdoors.

It showed what this group can look like when circumstances force the rotation to shrink.

There is still plenty to clean up.

Giving up 24 offensive rebounds is not something South Carolina will want to carry into the regular season.

But the response matters too.

The Gamecocks did not need a perfect start.

They needed to adjust.

They did.

And that might end up being one of the more useful things Dawn Staley got from an exhibition game that was never going to tell the whole story of this team.