By Brant Daughtry
Do not complain about road wins in this league. Yes, Auburn nearly blew a 21 point lead in the second half. Yes Auburn gave up 55 points to Texas in a half. And yes, Auburn allowed a single player to go off for 34 points. The team needs to be concerned about that, and I’m sure they are. But it was a win.
Looking around the conference, a lot of really good teams that can’t say that. Georgia took down Kentucky. Ole Miss took down a super talented Kentucky team. And soon-to-no-longer-be-number-one Tennessee lost by 30 to Florida. Frustrations are certainly justified, but don’t lose sight of the fact that Auburn is currently 2-0 in conference play, and that’s a good thing.
Bruce Pearl is now the winningest coach in Auburn Basketball history. Pearl came in and made the biggest joke of a program in a power conference into an every-year tournament team and a team currently competing for the top seed. The on-court turnaround is just remarkable. But there’s more to it than that. It’s true that the results are why this thing has worked, but Pearl’s job of getting the community invested, and of touching the lives of individuals in the area is astounding. He beloved because he’s winning, but he’s doing so much more than that. He was a controversial hire, and in a lot of ways he still is, just look at his Twitter account. But the impact he has had on this school is forever undeniable. He got a football school to care about basketball. And that’s all you need to know.
South Carolina is coached by Lamont Paris, who’s in his third season. Last year, with very low expectation, Paris led SC to an astounding turnaround of his own. The team went from 11-20 in the first season under Paris to 26-8, finishing second in the SEC, and while they were an early exit from the Tournament, falling to 11-seed Oregon in the first round, it set the table for Paris moving forward.
This year has been less than stellar though. They’re 10-5 and 0-2 in the SEC. They’re one of only three teams in the SEC to not log a Quad 1 win to this point, and the lowest ranking team in the SEC in NET, coming in at 100. They haven’t been super impressive this year, but it says a lot that the statistically weakest team in the SEC is still in the top 100. No other league in college basketball can claim that.
Looking at what USC East has done, their record kind of speaks for itself. To be fair to them, they started out with one of the tougher schedules in the league. They opened at Mississippi State and then hosted Alabama, who both look like legitimate contenders this year, and got absolutely swamped by both. They’re limping into this one.
Players to Watch For:
Forward Collin Murray-Boyles, #30- Murray-Boyles is the dude for this SC team. He’s a super talented sophomore who’s got good size and likes to play in close. In SC’s first two SEC games, he’s been held down, scoring in the single digits in both. He’s way more talented than that, and he’ll be looking to break out after a rough stretch. He’s not an outside shooter, but his physical profile is similar to Arthur Kaluma, and the margin of error is very small. If Auburn relaxes on defense again, he could get hot and make things difficult. He’s also the team’s best rebounder by far, at just shy of 10 per game.
Guard Jamarii Thomas, #6- Thomas is the lead ball handler for SC, and leads the team in minutes at 30 per. He’s on the small side, at just 5-11, but has the outside shot to overcome that, hitting 36% of his threes. He scores about 12 a game, but it’s his passing that Auburn needs to be most aware of. He’s averaging about 3.5 per game, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s his game. He’s been held down by SEC competition, much like Murray-Boyles, so his numbers are smaller than they should be.
Look, as far as SEC competition, this is as easy as it’ll get. But for reasons I’ve already explained, that doesn’t mean this’ll be an easy game. South Carolina is desperate to get back on the right track before this season goes totally off the rails, and a win over this Auburn team could do it. They’ll be a very motivated squad.
As always, the rule in the SEC is survive and advance. Auburn pulled it off against Texas. Don’t be shocked if this game is a little too close to ever be truly comfortable.
