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Auburn Basketball: Tigers vs South Carolina Gamecocks Game Info & Preview

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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The 9-6 (1-2) Auburn basketball team hosts the 10-5 (1-2) South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday at Auburn Arena in a pivotal SEC matchup of two rising programs.

Auburn Tigers (9-7, 1-2) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (10-5, 1-2)

  • Date: Saturday, January 17, 2015
  • Start Time: 7:30PM Central
  • Location: Auburn, AL
  • Arena: Auburn Arena
  • TV Info: SEC Network
  • Live Stream: WatchESPN
  • Odds (VegasInsider.com): South Carolina (-2.5)

Following a 75-55 blowout loss to Florida in Gainesville, the Auburn Tigers are happy to be back home for a key SEC matchup with the South Carolina Gamecocks. So far this season, the Tigers are 7-1 at Auburn Arena and have won six in a row including a victory over Missouri a week ago.

Jan 15, 2015; Gainesville, FL, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Florida Gators at Stephen C. O

“Obviously, we play better at home. We have demonstrated that,” Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl said. “We have talked about being post-season eligible. We are only two games above .500. There is no margin for error. Where and when can you get one on the road if you slip up at home? There is more pressure to win when you are at home, but what I have to get our guys to focus on is what does South Carolina do to score? What do we have to do stop them? What do they do defensively? What do we have to do to score? That is all I can control. The more I focus on those things, the better chance we have to be able to win.”

First things first, Auburn needs a better output from their top players. Cinmeon Bowers notched his tenth double-double of the season against the Gators, but he and Antoine Mason were the only players to score in double figures Thursday night in Gainesville. K.T. Harrell, who came in as the SEC’s second leading scorer, scored only eight points.

The Tigers have gotten terrific energy from Jordon Granger, Tahj Shamsid-Deen, K.C. Ross-Miller and Malcolm Canada, but it’s Bowers, Mason and Harrell that make this team go. By getting those players – the three Tigers that average double-digit points per game – on the same page and scoring consistently, Auburn can avoid the scoring droughts that doomed them against Florida.

On a related note, Auburn will need to start quickly. Poor shooting performances in the first half of SEC losses to Vanderbilt and Florida led to early double-digit deficits that were too big to overcome.

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The Tigers will have their hands full with a solid South Carolina squad that has an RPI of 95 thanks to quality victories over Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Alabama. The Gamecocks also easily defeated Clemson earlier this season – a team Auburn lost to 72-61.

Leading the way for South Carolina is a pair of former SEC Players of the Week in guards Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice. Another guard, Tyrone Johnson, had 20 points against Florida last week and true freshman Marcus Stroman is a valuable contributor off the bench.

In the front court, the Gamecocks have a slight height advantage in starting forwards Laimonas Chatkevicius and Demetrius Henry, who are 6-foot-11 and 6-foot-9, respectively, but there are no players on the bench listed at taller than 6-foot-7. Therefore, Auburn matches up much better size-wise than they did in Gainesville Thursday.

These are two evenly matched teams, though the Gamecocks have played better basketball overall this season. With the home crowd behind them, including The Jungle in full force with the beginning of the spring semester on campus, the Tigers will have a distinct home court advantage.

If Bowers, Harrell and Mason step up, Auburn will win. If not, they’ll let an important SEC game slip away.

Projected Lineups:

Auburn

#5 Cinmeon Bowers, F, Jr., 6-foot-7, 278 pounds, 13.5 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 29.0 MPG
#25 Jordon Granger, F, Jr., 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, 5.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 22.1 MPG
#1 K.T. Harrell, G, Sr., 6-foot-4, 212 pounds, 16.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 32.2 MPG
#12 K.C. Ross-Miller, G, So., 6-foot, 178 pounds, 6.8 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 24.2 MPG
#14 Antoine Mason, G, Sr., 6-foot-1, 216 pounds, 14.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 29.4 MPG

South Carolina

#10 Duane Notice, G, So., 6-foot-2, 221 pounds, 12.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 27.6MPG
#0 Sindarius Thornwell, G, So., 6-foot-5, 206 pounds, 10.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 27.4MPG
#4 Tyrone Johnson, G, Sr., 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, 10.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 28.5 MPG
#21 Demetrius Henry, F, So., 6-foot-9, 215 pounds, 7.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 20.1 MPG
#14 Laimonas Chatkevicius, F, Jr., 6-foot-11, 251 pounds, 9.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 21.6 MPG

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