The No. 2 Auburn Tigers are looking to start off SEC play 3-0 as they travel to Colonial Life Arena to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.
The Tigers hold an eight-game win streak against the Gamecocks – Auburn’s longest active winning streak against an SEC opponent – by an average of 19.6 points per game, with the last seven of them coming by at least 11 points.
The Gamecocks entered conference play with a 10-3 record but have lost their last two games by a combined 55 points to No. 17 Mississippi State and No. 5 Alabama.
Collin Murray-Boyles leads the Gamecocks with 15.1 points per game on a 61.8% clip from the field, the best in the league. His 9.3 rebounds per game is second behind the Tigers’ Johni Broome. Two other Gamecocks score in double figures. Senior guard Jamarii Thomas, the MEAC Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and a MEAC All-Defensive Team selection at Norfolk State last season, is averaging 12.3 points per game, while senior forward Nick Pringle, a transfer from Alabama, is averaging 10. 6 points per game.
“South Carolina has got a great frontline in Pringle and Boyles,” Pearl said. “I really like the guards. The guard they got from Norfolk State, Thomas, really impressed with him. And (Jacobi) Wright has been there a number of years. He’s really good. Both are seniors. Both are tough. Good defensively. They’ve seen some really good defensive guards and lowered their numbers.”
Like Missouri, who the Tigers opened up conference play with, South Carolina does as good a job as any team Auburn will play at getting to the free throw line – a recipe Texas used in the second half comeback against the Tigers on Tuesday night with 22 second half attempts from the charity stripe – ranking 16th nationally averaging 25.3 free throw attempts per game, averaging 17.6 made free throws per game.
“I thought our guards did a pretty good job with Missouri’s guards. The thing against South Carolina is that they will do it with their post. Like Murray-Boyles and Pringle will look to attack our 4’s and 5’s and just throw themselves into contact,” Pearl said.
Narrowly escaping with a win at Texas, the Tigers saw their once 21-point lead diminish in the second half against the Longhorns, giving the Tigers an idea of what’s to come in SEC play.
“It was actually good for us. Nobody in the huddle was panicked. We needed a close ball game. We needed some adversity, to see how we can play with it on the road. We handled it pretty well. We had one costly turnover at the end. But, other than that, we handled it pretty well,” Broome said.
Miles Kelly, who leads the Tigers with 33 made 3-pointers, tallied 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep. It was his fourth game with at least four 3-pointers and his seventh game in double figures this season.
"The last couple games I haven't shot the ball the way I wanted. The rims just felt crazy. Everything I put up felt like it was going in. I hate that I missed the two I got great looks on. Just got to keep it going," Kelly said on his performance.
Tipoff is set for Saturday at 12 p.m. CT on SECN.
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