The crowd’s chants brought tears to Meechie Johnson’s eyes as he soaked in the moment. Returning to play at South Carolina was more than a game for him—it was a dream realized.
“Right now, I’m just so emotional,” Johnson told the SEC Network as fans a few rows back shouted his name. “That’s what you come back for. God is good.”
Johnson had already felt the emotions of his first game back at Colonial Life Arena earlier in the week, but Sunday’s matchup delivered an unforgettable heroics-filled performance.
With South Carolina on the brink of defeat, the fifth-year guard carried the team on his shoulders. Johnson scored a career-high 33 points in an 83-79 overtime win over Southern Miss, orchestrating a comeback that seemed impossible.
Trailing by 11 points with less than four minutes remaining, the Gamecocks appeared doomed to a disappointing Quad 4 loss that could have derailed their season. But Johnson had other plans.
Step by step, he drained three-pointers from deep, pulling the Gamecocks back into the game. He scored 14 of South Carolina’s final 16 points in regulation to force overtime.
“I live for those moments, man, since high school, and today my team just trusted me,” Johnson said. “I knew that we needed to hit big shots in those late moments, and I had the ball, and I had to come through. Like I said, man, God is good. I put a lot of work in, and the work shows.”
In overtime, Johnson didn’t light up the scoreboard like he did in the closing minutes, but he still played a crucial role. Going 3-for-4 from the free-throw line, he helped secure a lead that South Carolina would not relinquish. He also set up Myles Stute for a corner three in the final 32 seconds, extending the Gamecocks’ lead to four points.
“(Stute) missed a lot of shots late in the game, and I found him before coming through. I told him, he’s the best shooter in the country,” Johnson said. “I needed him to step up, and he did. So shout out to him. Shout out to everybody, man. We all stepped up tonight. We came out victorious.”
Johnson finished 9-of-19 from the field and 7-of-14 from three-point range. Though he had five turnovers, his unforgettable performance overshadowed any mistakes.
“It don’t matter how much time is left. It doesn’t matter where we at in the game. This is basketball. I believe this is the greatest sport in history,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if this could happen in football. It’s a game of runs, man, and we just stuck with it. We came together as a team.”
