South Carolina (12-6, 3-2) will take on the Auburn Tigers (7-13, 0-6) Saturday afternoon at Colonial Life Arena.
The Gamecocks have had a week off since the loss to Kentucky and will be looking to get back on track in the SEC race as they find themselves 1.5 games back of first place Florida (16-4, 5-1).
Leading scorer Bruce Ellington has hit a dry spell scoring wise, averaging only 10.5 points per game in his last two games. He was held to eight points against Kentucky last Saturday and will be looking to stay out of foul trouble against Auburn and get back into a scoring groove.
Sam Muldrow has been on a tear for the Gamecocks defensively and had a breakout scoring game against Kentucky, scoring a career-high 23. If the Gamecocks want to get back to winning, Muldrow will have to continue to score inside and give the Gamecocks a reliable defensive presence in the paint.
Ramon Galloway has been a reliable threat off the bench in the last couple games and has given the Gamecocks a much needed spark from outside the starting lineup. If he can continue to be successful off the bench, it will give South Carolina another weapon to use later in games to keep fresh legs on the floor and still be successful in scoring.
Auburn has had a tough time of late, losing all of their six conference games, including a 45-40 heart-breaker at home last week to Florida. If Auburn wants to win this game, they must get leading scorers Earnest Ross and Andre Malone going early.
Ross has scored 20 and 15 in his last two games, respectively, and Malone has averaged 11.7 points per game. Auburn has struggled to score against some of the weakest defenses in the country this year and they need to find a way to score to have a shot to upset the Gamecocks on the road.
South Carolina should have a win after Saturday's contest, but you can never count out the possibility of an upset in the SEC.
Prediction:
Auburn 55 South Carolina 70
No comments:
Post a Comment