COLUMBIA, S.C. -- — Meechie Johnson and Ta'Lon Cooper each scored 15 points and South Carolina beat South Carolina Upstate 82-53 in a season opener on Monday night.

B.J. Mack added 13 points and Myles Stute had 10 for South Carolina.

Justin Bailey scored 13 points and Trae Broadnax added 10 for SC Upstate.

Bailey's 3-pointer almost 3 1/2 minutes in gave SC Upstate its only lead of the game at 5-3. South Carolina led 42-28 at halftime and outscored the Spartans 40-25 after intermission.

South Carolina leads the overall series 8-1, including 4-1 in Columbia. The 29-point win nearly doubles the previous average of 15.4 points per game for margin of victory the Gamecocks have over SC Upstate.

South Carolina's four transfers (Cooper, Mack, Stute and Stephen Clark) entered having played a combined 430 games at the Division I level with 299 starts among them. The entire team’s 480 combined Division I starts ranks third in the Southeastern Conference behind only Mississippi State (514) and Texas A&M (502) entering this season.

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