South Carolina is off to an uneven start, but that hasn’t obscured the steady rise of Collin Murray-Boyles.The 6-foot-7 sophomore will be the player to watch when South Carolina (6-3) hosts South Carolina Upstate (4-8) Saturday afternoon in Columbia.Murray-Boyles leads the Gamecocks in points (16.2), rebounds (9.4), steals (1.2) and blocks (1.1) per game.As South Carolina struggled to a 75-68 victory over East Carolina on Saturday, Murray-Boyles carried the Gamecocks, making all 10 of his shots from the floor and finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds.”He’s been working on pivoting towards the basket and getting on balance and then making a strong move through some contact,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said.The Gamecocks have been highly dependent on Murray-Boyles. In the two games in which he has fouled out, South Carolina lost to Xavier and Indiana. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks are unbeaten in the six games in which he has collected at least eight rebounds.”He’s still growing and it’s exciting to see,” Paris said. “He’s got phenomenal natural touch.”Also emerging lately have been Norfolk State transfer Jamarii Thomas, who had season highs of 22 points and seven assists against East Carolina, and Morris Ugusuk, who has hit 10 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the last three games.