South Carolina Basketball: Pregame Prognostications and How to Watch vs. Ole Miss

South Carolina basketball has put together two decent showings in their last two games, one at home against the Arkansas Razorbacks and the other on the road at Missouri. Both games resulted in losses for the CourtCocks, but when your team is in the midst of an eight-game losing streak (and has lost 11 of 12), any progress is worth noting. On Saturday afternoon at 1:00 EST, the Gamecocks will face off with the Ole Miss Rebels on the SECNetwork.

Much like the South Carolina basketball squad, Ole Miss has also struggled this season. Kermit Davis’ team won just their second SEC contest in their previous game, a road victory in Athens over the Georgia Bulldogs. Statistically, the Rebs have not successfully put the ball in the basket during the 2022-2023 season, claiming only one of the conference’s top-35 scorers. Defensively, Ole Miss has performed at around a league-average rate.

GG Jackson and Hayden Brown carried the offense against Missouri, but their lack of consistent help down the stretch killed any hope of victory as turnovers and missed shots seemed as contagious to the rest of the lineup as when the flu spreads through kindergarten classrooms. A nine-minute stretch with just one field goal make cannot happen again on Saturday if the Gamecocks hope to end their long losing skid.

Ole Miss has its most success when its best rebounders dominate the boards, and their two best glass cleaners, Myles Burns and Jaemyn Brakefield, average almost 12 combined rebounds per game despite being undersized forwards. If Josh Gray, GG Jackson, Hayden Brown, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk can win the rebounding for the garnet and black, the Gamecocks should be in a position to win. Gray will be the biggest man on the court whenever he is in the game and could be the key to a Gamecock victory.

Another key to the game will be outside shooting. The Rebels are not a good shooting team from the perimeter, and the Gamecocks have shot better from 3 during SEC play than they did in the out-of-conference slate. If the Gamecocks can knock down jumpers, they perhaps can overcome the disadvantage from the free throw line they have had in almost every game this SEC season.

Prediction

In what should be a close game between two struggling programs, South Carolina snaps their losing streak and brings themselves even with the Rebels, tied at 12th in the conference standings. Expect South Carolina, especially Josh Gray and GG Jackson, to throw too much length at Mississippi for the Rebels to keep up on the glass.