Once a week, we’ll be previewing Auburn basketball’s upcoming opponents. This week, there’s only one game. The Tigers take a trip to Columbia Tuesday to face the South Carolina Gamecocks.
South Carolina
The Gamecocks are 9-3 with their most recent game being a 40-point blowout over Army. They have not yet played a conference game. The Gamecocks are coached by Frank Martin, who has been in Columbia for 15 years now. In that time, he has become one of the more successful coaches in school history, once winning the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award, and leading the team to the Final Four.
South Carolina has averaged 75 points per game, and has hung their hat on the defensive side of the game, only giving up 66 points per game. It should be noted however, that South Carolina has not yet beaten a team from one of the major conferences. Their three losses have come against Princeton, who beat them by three, and Coastal Carolina and Clemson, who both won in blowout fashion. However, they have not yet lost a game at home.
Players to Watch For: #5, Guard Jermaine Couisnard and #10, Erik Stevenson
Cousinard is the leading scorer for the Gamecocks, and Stevenson is not far behind. Cousinard averages 11 points per game, and Stevenson is just shy at 10.9. They are both big guards, standing at 6’4″. Neither of them shoots particularly well from behind the arc, but are both very efficient from close range. It should also be said that Stevenson is 26 for 26 on free throws this year. He also is their leading assist man, but his passing numbers aren’t that impressive. He averages 2.6 per game.
