South Carolina Basketball: Pregame Prognostications and How to Watch vs. Mississippi State

Sitting at 8-13 and 1-7 in the SEC, South Carolina Basketball has not had the season fans were hoping for when the school brought new Head Coach Lamont Paris and new superstar prospect GG Jackson to Columbia. Losing five games in a row, the Gamecocks hope to stop the skid at home against the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (13-8 overall; 1-7 in SEC play).

Mississippi State comes into the Tuesday night tilt—airing at 6:30 on the SECNetwork—confident after a win over top-15 TCU in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. The Bulldogs are a stronger team than their 1-7 conference record would indicate; the maroon and white team from Starkville has two top-15 victories and has only lost by double figures to top-5 Tennessee and top-5 Alabama.

The matchup between two fanbases who know the difference between garnet and maroon likely will be a lower-scoring affair as Mississippi State and South Carolina are the worst two offensive teams in the league based on total scoring and scoring efficiency. In order for South Carolina to end their losing streak, they will need to score at a much more efficient rate than their yearly average, a tough task to accomplish against a Bulldog defense ranked 8th nationally in points allowed per game at just under 60 points per matchup. Conversely, the Gamecocks rank number 283 in points allowed, allowing almost 75 points per contest.

For Mississippi State, twin forwards Tolu Smith and DJ Jeffries will seek to create matchup problems for the post-deficient Gamecocks. Of the top 5 forwards on the Carolina roster (GG Jackson, Hayden Brown, Josh Gray, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, and Daniel Hankins-Sanford), only Brown and Gray have shown the ability to play consistently strong in the paint. Gray is a tall, strong player but is less athletic than the Mississippi State frontline, and Brown, standing 6’5”, is too short to contend with their length, so expect Mississippi State to exploit their advantage down low, especially in the rebounding department.

Prediction

In the Saturday loss against Georgia, the South Carolina basketball team shot well from 3 but failed to consistently slow the other Bulldogs enough to win the game. As was the case for Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo in that game, expect the Gamecocks’ defensive deficiencies to result in many trips to the free throw line for Tolu Smith who averages close to seven attempts per game from the charity stripe. The free throw line disparity and defensive efficiency difference will each be themes of the game as the Gamecocks’ losing streak grows to six.
Final score: South Carolina—51 73—Mississippi State.