South Carolina (13-7, 4-3) will travel to Nashville, TN this Saturday afternoon to take on the 24th ranked Vanderbilt Commodores (15-6, 3-4) at Memorial Gym.
These two teams will be meeting for the second time this season as the Gamecocks took the first match-up 83-75 in OT back in early January.
The Gamecocks are coming off of a 64-56 road win over LSU on Wednesday night, snapping a two-game losing streak.
Bruce Ellington led the Gamecocks with 20 points, going 3-8 from three point range and hitting five of his six free throw attempts. Lakeem Jackson was back in the lineup after sitting out of the Auburn game with a foot injury, he led the Gamecocks with eight rebounds and four assists while adding four points.
Malik Cooke also had a good game for the Gamecocks off the bench, going 4-5 from the field and scoring 12 points. He also recorded two rebounds, a steal and a block. LSU was able to keep Sam Muldrow fairly quiet, although he added four rebounds, four blocks and six points for South Carolina.
Vanderbilt is coming into the game on two losses, an unexpected home loss to Arkansas and a heartbreaking overtime loss at Florida.
In the loss at Florida, John Jenkins led the Commodores with 22 points going 2-6 from three point range and hitting 8-14 from the field. Brad Tinsley added 15 points for Vanderbilt but it wasn't enough to stave off the Gators who have won four of their last five, including two overtime victories.
If the Gamecocks want to upset Vanderbilt again, they'll need another strong game from Bruce Ellington and Ramon Galloway. In most of Carolina's wins this year, they have been able to hit the three point shot consistently and that will be a big factor in whether the Gamecocks are able to play well. Sam Muldrow will be a factor as well, he needs to play well and be able to score inside to give South Carolina another option besides jump shooting.
Look for Vanderbilt to come out strong after two consecutive losses and try to snap their losing streak at home against South Carolina. If the Gamecocks can hit the three and make their free throws, this should be another entertaining match-up.
Prediction:
South Carolina 69 (24)Vanderbilt 75
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