The South Carolina men's basketball team will look to use inspiration from former Gamecocks on Saturday to break its current losing streak.
The University of South Carolina is celebrating its annual Legends Weekend and commending former Gamecock athletes. The guests will be honored at halftime, including a special ring ceremony for Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice, PJ Dozier and Justin McKie for their tournament run to the Final Four last year.
The Gamecocks are currently on a six game losing streak and will face a surging No. 10 Auburn (23-3, 5-1 SEC) team for the first time this season. The Gamecocks have won three of the last four meetings, including a 98-69 victory over the Tigers last season in Columbia.
Chris Silva currently leads the Gamecocks with 14.2 points per game. If Silva can stay out of foul trouble, his scoring and rim protection should prove vital for the Gamecocks.
Frank Booker also averages double-figure points at 11.6 per game, giving the Gamecocks some power off the bench. Look for Booker to light it up from three-point range, as he leads the team in threes made. Booker is also just 11 made threes away from cracking the Gamecock single-season record in that category.
Booker will have a tough positional matchup against Bryce Brown, who averages 16.6 points per game, ranking fifth in the SEC.
Booker leads the Gamecocks in steals this season. Even if he can contain Brown's scoring and force some turnovers, South Carolina will still have work to do. Three other players average double-figure points for the Tigers: Mustapha Heron, Jared Harper and Desean Murray.
The Gamecocks need to see solid effort from all of their players if they want to end this losing streak. Their defense must bend but not break, and prevent the Tigers from going on long, unanswered scoring runs. South Carolina also needs to play tight at the finish, as the Gamecocks have lost many games from not being able to hold on at the end.
South Carolina must be running on all cylinders to pull off the upset, but it is possible. Fans from far and wide returning for Legends Weekend will give the Gamecocks a strong home-court advantage.