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Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first and talk offense.
SC's offense last season was by no means elite, but it did finish the season ranked #54 by KenPom. This season the ranking is way down at 114th.
Despite the loss of interior Bigs Isaiah Mobley and Vez Goodwin, the reason is not interior shooting. SC shot 50.1% from inside the arc last season; this season SC is shooting 52.4%. Neither number is elite, but neither is particularly bad.
When it comes to shooting, the issue is behind the arc: SC has gone from shooting 35.7% last season (good for 70th in the country) down to 30.6% this season (all the way down to 302nd in the nation). An easy way to understand this is that SC has gone from scoring 20 points per game from behind the arc to basically 16.5 points per game from behind the arc. This is a tough stat considering that SC is basically playing 4 guys at a time who should be able to hit 3s.
Turnovers are also up, but not drastically: from 12.2/game to 13.9/game.
A bigger issue than turnovers has actually been the offensive rebounding -- and that is certainly impacted by the loss of Isaiah and Vez. Last season, SC was 32nd in the nation with an offensive rebound percentage of 33.5%. What that means is that basically every time SC missed a shot, it was getting 1 out of every 3 rebounds.
This season SC 246th in the nation with an offensive rebounding percentage of 26.8 -- meaning that instead of getting 1 out of 3 rebounds from an SC miss, SC is not only getting 1 out of every 4 rebounds.
When combining the extra turnovers and fewer offensive rebounds, it equals out to about 5 fewer possessions per game.
The upshot is that SC is scoring less, while playing at a faster pace of play than last season.
Let's move on to defense.
On that end of the court, the story has been a pleasant surprise; SC's numbers are looking strong virtually across the board as compared to last season, when SC also had a good defense.
The one area is that isn't great is defensive rebounding (no surprise). Last season, SC gobbled up about 74% of all defensive rebounds. This season, it's closer to 70%.
Other than other hand, SC has been better at guarding the 3-point line (33.1% --> 32.3%), turning opponents over (14.4% of possessions --> 18%), and steals (5/game --> 6.7/game).
But those are not the big surprises. The big numbers are that SC is actually blocking more shots (4.4/game --> 6.2/game) and giving up a lower FG% from inside the arc (42.1% --> 39.7%).
The blocks and 2P% defense are both Top 10 nationally.
SC's offense last season was by no means elite, but it did finish the season ranked #54 by KenPom. This season the ranking is way down at 114th.
Despite the loss of interior Bigs Isaiah Mobley and Vez Goodwin, the reason is not interior shooting. SC shot 50.1% from inside the arc last season; this season SC is shooting 52.4%. Neither number is elite, but neither is particularly bad.
When it comes to shooting, the issue is behind the arc: SC has gone from shooting 35.7% last season (good for 70th in the country) down to 30.6% this season (all the way down to 302nd in the nation). An easy way to understand this is that SC has gone from scoring 20 points per game from behind the arc to basically 16.5 points per game from behind the arc. This is a tough stat considering that SC is basically playing 4 guys at a time who should be able to hit 3s.
Turnovers are also up, but not drastically: from 12.2/game to 13.9/game.
A bigger issue than turnovers has actually been the offensive rebounding -- and that is certainly impacted by the loss of Isaiah and Vez. Last season, SC was 32nd in the nation with an offensive rebound percentage of 33.5%. What that means is that basically every time SC missed a shot, it was getting 1 out of every 3 rebounds.
This season SC 246th in the nation with an offensive rebounding percentage of 26.8 -- meaning that instead of getting 1 out of 3 rebounds from an SC miss, SC is not only getting 1 out of every 4 rebounds.
When combining the extra turnovers and fewer offensive rebounds, it equals out to about 5 fewer possessions per game.
The upshot is that SC is scoring less, while playing at a faster pace of play than last season.
Let's move on to defense.
On that end of the court, the story has been a pleasant surprise; SC's numbers are looking strong virtually across the board as compared to last season, when SC also had a good defense.
The one area is that isn't great is defensive rebounding (no surprise). Last season, SC gobbled up about 74% of all defensive rebounds. This season, it's closer to 70%.
Other than other hand, SC has been better at guarding the 3-point line (33.1% --> 32.3%), turning opponents over (14.4% of possessions --> 18%), and steals (5/game --> 6.7/game).
But those are not the big surprises. The big numbers are that SC is actually blocking more shots (4.4/game --> 6.2/game) and giving up a lower FG% from inside the arc (42.1% --> 39.7%).
The blocks and 2P% defense are both Top 10 nationally.