Men’s basketball has lost four of their last five games
Unless the South Carolina men’s basketball team can magically catch fire in the SEC tournament, an NCAA tournament appearance this season is unlikely.
Instead, the Gamecocks (10-17, 3-11 SEC) will aim to battle their way out of a tie for last place in the SEC on Wednesday at 9 p.m., when they play at Auburn.
The Tigers (12-13, 4-10 SEC) have not fared much better at this point in the season, losing four out their last five contests.
The two teams played back on Feb. 5 in Columbia, where the Tigers posted a 79-74 victory.
In that game, the Gamecocks allowed Auburn junior guard KT Harrell and senior guard Chris Denson to score 25 points apiece. Gamecock senior guard Brenton Williams shined in the game, scoring 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting, but he did not get much help from the rest of the team.
Freshman wing player Sindarius Thornwell will try to redeem himself from the last meeting, where he only had eight points on 3-of-16 shooting.
The Gamecocks have lost two straight games, including, most recently, a 17-point defeat at home against Georgia.
Coach Frank Martin’s team has had numerous issues in games, but one that sticks out is the inability for his bigs to get offensive production. South Carolina’s rotation of four centers has combined for just 22 points in the last two games.
“We just got to help them,” Thornwell said. “Coach knows we don’t have good scorers from our bigs. We just have to create situations where they can score and give them good angles.”
The frontcourt has improved in rebounding recently, with sophomore forward Michael Carrera earning 12 rebounds last game, including seven on the offensive glass. Scoring inside consistently, though, has been a problem all season. A challenge awaits the Gamecocks in Auburn’s seven-foot senior center, Asauhn Dixon-Tatum, who averages six rebounds and two blocks per game.
The other major problem for the Gamecocks right now is depth. Martin has gone through several players on the bench to see who can contribute, but it seems no one is stepping up to the task.
“We need some of those bench guys to help our basketball team,” Martin said. “They have to find a way to be productive players for our team.”
For the Gamecocks to win on Wednesday, their guards will have to outduel Auburn’s guards. Denson and Harrell are the two leading scorers for the Tigers, putting up 20.3 and 18.7 points per game, respectively. Harrell has shot well from the perimeter, making about 36 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Williams leads South Carolina with 14.3 points per game and shoots an admirable 42.9 percent from behind the three-point line. Thornwell is not far behind his teammate, scoring 13.8 points per game and around 34 percent from beyond the arc.
Junior guard Tyrone Johnson’s broken ankle has proven to be a huge loss as the Gamecocks have struggled to find a clear third scoring option in his place.
The losing has not been easy to endure this season, but Williams said that the team’s issues have been bigger than just the centers’ low scoring.
“The coaches are going to get on the bigs,” Williams said. “And I’m not just saying that the guards are doing everything right, because we also have to get better at what we have to do, too.”