Here we take a look at Auburn basketball‘s matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Jan. 24 following a week of success.
For the first time in a while, Auburn basketball featured the SEC freshman of the week — an award that is generally won by a Kentucky or Missouri regular. Austin Wiley dominated close to the basket in a week averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in wins over LSU and Alabama, with the need to do the same this week against South Carolina.
South Carolina is 15-4 with wins over No. 25 Michigan, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 19 Florida before losing to No. 5 Kentucky 85-69. The Gamecocks’ loss to the Wildcats proved to be their lone SEC loss (5-1) on their way to the Plains.
Senior guard Sindarius Thornwell leads his South Carolina squad with 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Thornwell‘s 19.4 points are good for third in the SEC, and is second on his team for blocks with 1.1. His contributions for his team are undoubtedly heroic, nearly leading his team in every statistic against impressive opponent play.
What is to be taken away from Thornwell‘s play, along with the other impressive guards for South Carolina, is the evident need for size at the basket. The tallest player for the Gamecocks being 6-foot-10, 245-pound freshman Maik Kotsar of Estonia, who appears to be more of a project than a go-to man.
Clearly, it is time for Horace Spencer and Austin Wiley to continue their offensive and defensive output with a dominant group of guards on its way. Consistently over the past two weeks, plays have shifted slowly away from the guards of Auburn to the big men, which allows for the smaller guys to get more effective shots up and space the floor more.
It is imperative to understand that this is also the first realistic test of the season for Auburn — a squad that has struggled with inexperienced and poor shot attempts. Auburn is coming off of a dominant week of play, highlighted by their forwards and centers, and will need to show that they can do it against more talented rosters.
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Following South Carolina, Auburn will take on TCU (14-6) for the SEC-Big 12 challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
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