South Carolina game thread

[jwells]

Mississippi State (12-1, 0-0 SEC) at South Carolina (6-7, 1-0 SEC)
Tip : 8:00 PM CT TV: ESPNU

The Bulldogs are back in action against the Gamecocks after a 10 day break following a Dec. 29 103-81 win over BYU. South Carolina started their SEC slate with a dramatic 71-69 win over Florida that included a full-court pass and dunk by Chris Silva with 1.9 to go.

South Carolina Team Stats:

Points Per Game: 73.8
Points Per Game Allowed: 70.3
FGA-FGM: 331-783 (42.3%)
3FGA-3FGM: 87-278 (31.3%)
FTA-FTM: 211-296 (71.3%)

Common Opponents:

Wofford: MSU won 98-87; USC lost 81-61
Clemson: MSU won 82-71; USC lost 78-68

Leaders:

Chris Silva (Sr.): 12.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg
A.J. Lawson (Fr.): 13.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.2 apg
Hassani Gravett (Sr.): 10.8 ppg, 2.3 apg

jwells' Analysis

In one the surprises of opening weekend in the SEC, South Carolina was able to go into Florida and win 71-69. I understand Florida isn't a top 10 team but I thought the Gators were starting to figure things out after they thrashed Butler just one game before. While freshman AJ Lawson is leading the team in scoring, his production has dropped off dramatically as the competition has ramped up. He scored just 6 points against Florida and 8 against Clemson before that. That is understandable as it takes time to adjust to level he's now playing at.

With that being said, Chris Silva is the unquestioned leader of the team in my opinion. He has really stepped up his play lately and will be tough to handle in the paint. BYU's Joeli Childs was able to handle Holman and Ado in the paint for portions of the Bulldogs' win against the Cougars and the Dogs will need to step up the post defense against Silva. Gravett has been coming off the bench and had an up and down year to this point but did go off for 22 against the Gators on Saturday night. He has been around against the Dogs plenty and am confident Lamar and Nick will be able to hold him check. The rest of the team is very inconsistent offensively but are hard-nosed and scrappy on the defensive end, a staple of a Frank Martin team.

Overall, the Gamecocks have struggled to get it going this year but will look to build off their win over Florida. Going on the road in the SEC is always a significant task and tonight will be no different. If the Bulldogs can improve their defense and take good shots, Mississippi State should win. The key for us this year has been taking open shots and working hard enough to get those open shots. We have really seemed to have figured that out recently and the long stretches without a basket have dramatically reduced. Florida shot the ball very poorly from 3 on Saturday (9-31) and still had to blow a 2nd half double digit lead to lose. Barring a clunker of a shooting performance, I think the Dogs will go in and get the win, 75-68.

[TNDawg35]

Total crap. Nowhere did you bitch and complain nor mention how Joe sucks and Lemonis is a horrible hire. This will not work on ED...****

In all seriousness, great job man. Keep it up.

[sleepy dawg]

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to continued previews.

[jwells]

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to continued previews.

Thanks guys. Will try to do one for every game.

[Commercecomet24]

Enjoyed reading that. Thank you for sharing!

[Commercecomet24]

Total crap. Nowhere did you bitch and complain nor mention how Joe sucks and Lemonis is a horrible hire. This will not work on ED...****

In all seriousness, great job man. Keep it up.

Have some rep!

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Thanks guys. Will try to do one for every game.

Good write up. Childs did well against our guys the 1st half (17pts) but we did much better against him in the 2nd half (8pts). He's also a way more rounded scorer than Silva. He can go inside & outside but Silva will definitely challenge our manhood in the paint. He's very physical & plays extremely hard. Ado has to stay out of foul trouble. He had a great game up there last year 16pts 9rebs 4blks. Here's hoping for a similar outing.

[jwells]

Good write up. Childs did well against our guys the 1st half (17pts) but we did much better against him in the 2nd half (8pts). He's also a way more rounded scorer than Silva. He can go inside & outside but Silva will definitely challenge our manhood in the paint. He's very physical & plays extremely hard. Ado has to stay out of foul trouble. He had a great game up there last year 16pts 9rebs 4blks. Here's hoping for a similar outing.

That's true about the inside/outside of Childs and I had forgotten about how well Ado did up there. I also thought BYU got away from getting Childs the ball because our defensive intensity stepped up. Similar to how we had stretches early in the season, if we were having to work to get the offense going, we would just settle for the 1st shot, good or bad, that came our way. It takes serious effort to get an open looks against good competition and most teams don't want to put in the effort.

[confucius say]

Silva is still there?!? Damn

[MadDawg]

Good job. You might have a future here. Got any pics of your wife/girlfriend? hahaha, ok just kidding. You may not make it.

[RougeDawg]

Good work.

[BeardoMSU]

Lol, JK. Not a bad write up. Good job, and gracias.

[Political Hack]

I like the new guy.

[chef dixon]

Not gonna lie, our lay-off as me a little nervous about this one

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

Nice job, let's hope your prognostication skills match your summary!

[jwells]

Not gonna lie, our lay-off as me a little nervous about this one

I do agree with you about the layoff. Wish we would have played a game on Thursday or so but the options to play weren't there bc everyone else across the country has started conference play. We also tend to have to grow into the games so that could potentially be a nasty combination.

[smootness]

I think the layoff will help. I think we roll tonight.

[jwells]

Thanks for all the compliments. Hope we can keep winning and make this year special.

[Cloak]

Quality post, looking forward to reading the next one.

I got the Dawgs -4 (bought a couple points) and the under 149.

[jwells]

Quality post, looking forward to reading the next one.

I got the Dawgs -4 (bought a couple points) and the under 149.

-4 seems like a good bet. I suck at betting basketball tho. All the variables make me overthink most games.