After two rough losses to open SEC play, South Carolina\u2019s next opponent happens to be what many consider is the best team in college basketball this season. <\/p>\n
The Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2 SEC) will look to shock the world and take down mighty No. 2 Auburn on Saturday. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. on SEC Network.<\/p>\n
Here are three things to watch for, an opponent scouting report on the Tigers, plus the latest injury report.<\/p>\n
With Myles Stute out of action for the time being, other players who don\u2019t usually play too much are going to see more time on the floor. South Carolina needs to fill out those 25 minutes Stute normally plays somehow, right? <\/p>\n
Jordan Butler saw a little increase in his minutes, playing 11 against Alabama on Wednesday. Morris Ugusuk, who usually plays a decent amount coming off the bench, was out there for 23 minutes but racked up more personal fouls than points. But the one player who hadn\u2019t played much at all who saw a significant increase in game action was Arden Conyers.<\/p>\n
Before the Alabama game, Conyers had only played a combined 16 minutes in five games this season, but then he saw 19 minutes of floor time against the Crimson Tide. The redshirt freshman guard went for two points on 1-of-6 shooting and 0-for-3 from behind the arc.<\/p>\n
As Stute recovers from his unfortunate blood clot, guys like Conyers are going to be playing a lot more often. That\u2019s why these games are going to be so valuable to him and others who wouldn\u2019t have played much otherwise. <\/p>\n
Despite losing by 20 to the Tide, the Gamecocks actually got off to a decent start and led in the opening minutes. That was partially due to the aggression they came out with, especially on defense. They were all over the floor and did their best to make every possession tough for Alabama. <\/p>\n
As the game wore on, South Carolina fell behind by double digits and never made it a close game again. It also seemed the team didn\u2019t have the same fire it once did from when the game began. It\u2019s such a little thing, but playing with that energy for a full game could be beneficial. Competitiveness should never be something in question. It should already be a given.<\/p>\n
[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This will always be a talking point as long as Collin Murray-Boyles\u2019 struggles continue. It\u2019s only been two games, but he hasn\u2019t looked good at all to open SEC play. In that time, the sophomore forward has combined for 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting with eight turnovers.<\/p>\n When asked about those struggles<\/a>, head coach Lamont Paris basically boiled it down to him facing double teams as well as being \u201csped up a little bit.\u201d It\u2019s not going to get any easier from here as the Gamecocks host Auburn, a team that Murray-Boyles struggled against the last time they met. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not so much of an \u201cif\u201d but more so \u201cwhen\u201d he gets going, it would help out with a lot of the issues that the Gamecocks are having right now. He\u2019s obviously the focal point of the offense, and when he isn\u2019t at his best, the team suffers as a result. He should come around at some point and get back on track, but it will be a tough task against this Auburn squad.<\/p>\n After winning the SEC Tournament last season, Auburn is off to a tremendous start in Bruce Pearl\u2019s 11th season as the head coach. The Tigers are 14-1 (2-0 SEC) and are viewed by many as the best team in college basketball right now.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a dominant season for this group so far, with their only blemish on the schedule being a six-point loss to No. 4 Duke back on Dec. 4. In fairness, that loss came at Cameron Indoor Stadium, one of the most hostile environments in the sport. Even then, that game still went down to the wire with the Blue Devils prevailing in the end. <\/p>\n Otherwise, it\u2019s all been smooth sailing for the Tigers, with wins over No. 3 Iowa State, No. 12 Houston, No. 19 Memphis and No. 20 Purdue. They\u2019ve also beaten North Carolina and blew out former Gamecock Meechie Johnson and Ohio State by 38 points last month. <\/p>\n Everything for Auburn starts and ends with star forward Johni Broome, arguably one of the best players in the country. He\u2019s averaging a career-best 18.7 points and 11.2 rebounds this season.\u00a0But he also leads the team in assists (3.4) and blocks (2.7). <\/p>\n Much like he has against every team, he was solid in the two games Auburn played South Carolina in last year. He scored 21 points in a 101-61 win on Valentine\u2019s Day, then went a double-double in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals.<\/p>\n While Broome is the main attraction with this bunch, he\u2019s far from the only talented player the Gamecocks need to watch for. Senior guard Chad Baker-Mazara is averaging 13 points per game on 52.8 percent shooting. As if that weren\u2019t enough, Auburn has four other players currently putting up more than 10 points per game. <\/p>\n This is a team that ranks No. 1 in effective offensive efficiency, No. 4 in effective field goal percentage, No. 6 in turnover percentage, No. 4 in two-point percentage, No. 6 in block percentage, and No. 1 in non-steal turnover percentage. So in short, the Tigers are really good.<\/p>\n The SEC student-athlete availability report has not come out yet, though it will later Friday evening. This story will be updated once more information becomes available.<\/em><\/p>\n Who: South Carolina (10-5, 0-2 SEC) vs. No. 2 Auburn (14-1, 2-0 SEC)<\/p>\n When: Saturday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)<\/p>\n How to watch\/listen: SEC Network\/107.5 The Game<\/p>\n ESPN gives South Carolina a 10.5 percent chance to win<\/p>\n The post South Carolina vs. Auburn: Three things to watch for, scouting the opponent and injury report<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After two rough losses to open SEC play, South Carolina\u2019s next opponent happens to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If CMB can get going, it would make a big difference<\/h2>\n
Scouting the opponent<\/h2>\n
Injury report<\/h2>\n
Game details<\/h2>\n
Discuss South Carolina basketball on The Insiders Forum!<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n