TEAM OUTLOOK
• South Carolina is 18-11 overall, 9-8 in league play.
• South Carolina has won five of its last six games — wins over UGA, OM, LSU, MSU and Mizzou. (Lost to Ala)
• Offense is poor. They don't shoot well and they turn the ball over a lot, which makes them a terrible half-court team. Synergy Sports has them in the bottom 6% of all Division I teams in half-court offense. YIKES.
• No Gamecock shoots better than 35% from long range.
• They're OK-ish in transition.
• Their best half-court work comes via spot-up shooting (53rd percentile) and stick-backs.
• They're actually last in the country with their PR/Ball Handler stuff, which they run ~11% of the time. They probably should run that 0.0% of the time.
• This a good/very good defensive team. You hear people talk about the USC zones, and they're pretty effective, but they run zone only ~20% of the time. They have long guards (Top PG and Top SG are 6-foot-4) and they're quite physical. As such, this team is elite in countering the break, the PR/Ball Handler and Iso.
• This team WILL UNDERMINE THE TIGERS' HIGH BALL-SCREEN STUFF. This is why USC has given the Tigers some problems through the years.
• Opponents have been successful with post-ups (only one good post defender — and he's really a shot-blocker) and, for reasons I don't totally understand, DHOs.
PLAYER OUTLOOK
• Jermaine Couisnard (5) is the point guard. He's probably their best offensive player; he had 33 points against LSU then dropped 22 on Mississippi State in consecutive games a couple weeks back. He's at his best pushing tempo in transition. It's all about spot-up shooting and transition buckets for Couisnard — and he'd prefer to get to the rim or pull up from 8-12 feet. He's typically not a major perimeter threat. He's a solid defender. 11.8 ppg.
• Devin Carter (23) is their next-best scorer. He's a shooting guard who technically comes off the bench, but gets 20-25 minutes per game. He's a so-so long-range shooter at 29%. Carter does most of his damage driving to the rim. He draws a lot of fouls and he's 70% from the line this season. He's a sneaky good rebounder. Good in transition. Very good on-ball defender. 9.3 ppg.
• Erik Stevenson (10) is a senior wing this season after playing at Washington last year and at Wichita State for two years before that. He's South Carolina's best three-point shooter (34%) and he's insanely good (98%) at the free-throw line. He doesn't offer anything more than that on offense. Stevenson is a good passer, but he gets a little too ambitious in transition; he makes some really silly decisions that yield turnovers. He's a long-armed bandit on defense and causes much trouble defending pick-and-roll machinations. 11.4 ppg.
PREDICTION
Auburn's high-screen stuff won't work well against South Carolina. That means Auburn should take this opportunity to work on its ISO game (featuring Jabari Smith) and take full advantage of the numerous transition opportunities that will typify this game. I expect big games from Smith, KD Johnson as a transition tornado and, of course, Walker Kessler as a rim-running beast. USC only has one dude who can hang with Kessler.
Home crowd, full share of the SEC title on the line?
I'll take the Tigers.
AU 72, USC 55
• South Carolina is 18-11 overall, 9-8 in league play.
• South Carolina has won five of its last six games — wins over UGA, OM, LSU, MSU and Mizzou. (Lost to Ala)
• Offense is poor. They don't shoot well and they turn the ball over a lot, which makes them a terrible half-court team. Synergy Sports has them in the bottom 6% of all Division I teams in half-court offense. YIKES.
• No Gamecock shoots better than 35% from long range.
• They're OK-ish in transition.
• Their best half-court work comes via spot-up shooting (53rd percentile) and stick-backs.
• They're actually last in the country with their PR/Ball Handler stuff, which they run ~11% of the time. They probably should run that 0.0% of the time.
• This a good/very good defensive team. You hear people talk about the USC zones, and they're pretty effective, but they run zone only ~20% of the time. They have long guards (Top PG and Top SG are 6-foot-4) and they're quite physical. As such, this team is elite in countering the break, the PR/Ball Handler and Iso.
• This team WILL UNDERMINE THE TIGERS' HIGH BALL-SCREEN STUFF. This is why USC has given the Tigers some problems through the years.
• Opponents have been successful with post-ups (only one good post defender — and he's really a shot-blocker) and, for reasons I don't totally understand, DHOs.
PLAYER OUTLOOK
• Jermaine Couisnard (5) is the point guard. He's probably their best offensive player; he had 33 points against LSU then dropped 22 on Mississippi State in consecutive games a couple weeks back. He's at his best pushing tempo in transition. It's all about spot-up shooting and transition buckets for Couisnard — and he'd prefer to get to the rim or pull up from 8-12 feet. He's typically not a major perimeter threat. He's a solid defender. 11.8 ppg.
• Devin Carter (23) is their next-best scorer. He's a shooting guard who technically comes off the bench, but gets 20-25 minutes per game. He's a so-so long-range shooter at 29%. Carter does most of his damage driving to the rim. He draws a lot of fouls and he's 70% from the line this season. He's a sneaky good rebounder. Good in transition. Very good on-ball defender. 9.3 ppg.
• Erik Stevenson (10) is a senior wing this season after playing at Washington last year and at Wichita State for two years before that. He's South Carolina's best three-point shooter (34%) and he's insanely good (98%) at the free-throw line. He doesn't offer anything more than that on offense. Stevenson is a good passer, but he gets a little too ambitious in transition; he makes some really silly decisions that yield turnovers. He's a long-armed bandit on defense and causes much trouble defending pick-and-roll machinations. 11.4 ppg.
PREDICTION
Auburn's high-screen stuff won't work well against South Carolina. That means Auburn should take this opportunity to work on its ISO game (featuring Jabari Smith) and take full advantage of the numerous transition opportunities that will typify this game. I expect big games from Smith, KD Johnson as a transition tornado and, of course, Walker Kessler as a rim-running beast. USC only has one dude who can hang with Kessler.
Home crowd, full share of the SEC title on the line?
I'll take the Tigers.
AU 72, USC 55
