South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from SEC Tournament loss to Auburn
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Basketball vs. Auburn Tigers
Thumbs Up 1: Rebounding
If you didn't watch this game, this will explain it to you: South Carolina lost the rebounding battle, and it is one of the "thumbs up" from the contest.
All-in-all, a 42-40 loss in the rebounding department is not that consequential. Auburn has some really big frontcourt players in Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell who seem to gobble up every miss that comes near them. With only Josh Gray that rivals those players' size, the Gamecocks' ability to keep the rebounding numbers close was moderately impressive.
Carolina pulled down 13 offensive boards and scored 12 2nd chance points, which is worth noting.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Auburn Tigers
Thumbs Up 2: BJ Mack getting to the free throw line again
The South Carolina Gamecocks are typically (not against Auburn) a good ball movement team. However, they do rely on three players to be able to score without being set up perfectly by an assist. One of those three players is BJ Mack.
Mack didn't have a great day from the field (3-12), but he did something for the 3rd game in a row that is an encouraging trend: he got to the foul line. Mack went 8-8 from the charity stripe, and he is 22-23 in the Gamecocks' last three contests.
If he can continue to generate free offensive chances from the line (and if he can continue to efficiently convert those chances), the Gamecocks will fare much better offensively.
Zach Davis also went 6-8 from the line.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Auburn Tigers
Thumbs Up 3: Collin Murray-Boyles' post defense
The only real positive on defense for the Gamecocks in this game was from Collin Murray-Boyles' effort inside. Despite being shorter than most of the Auburn post players, CMB fought down low and limited them to low efficiency. Only Chris Moore shot better than 50% among Bruce Pearl's non-guards.
Murray-Boyles finished the game with 4 blocks, and it was thanks in large part to his efforts that Auburn shot below 50% on their layup attempts for the game. He also only picked up 2 fouls, both of which came in the 1st half.