How, what to watch for as shorthanded USC tries to end skid at Texas A&M
Game info
Who: South Carolina (14-15, 9-7 SEC) at Texas A&M (13-15, 6-10)
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Reed Arena in College Station, Texas
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 FM The Game in Columbia area
Series: Tied 4-4
Last meeting: Feb. 16, 2019, in Columbia, S.C. — South Carolina 84, Texas A&M 77
KenPom prediction: Texas A&M 74, South Carolina 70
STORYLINES
1. Stop the skid
Schedule makers weren’t kind to the Gamecocks, having them travel to Missouri (869 miles) and Texas A&M (1,062) for consecutive games. Oh by the way, USC, down to seven available scholarship players, is on a three-game losing streak.
The Aggies have won three of four games since losing to Carolina on Feb. 16.
“It’s the wrong time of year to enter into a three-game losing streak,” Frank Martin said Monday. “You get three-game losing streaks in November, December, January, you have time to overcome it. You have a losing streak late February, early March, it’s hard to overcome a losing streak that time of year. “
2. In the zone
A.J. Lawson (sprained ankle) will miss Tuesday’s game, again making the Gamecocks short-handed. South Carolina, as it did in the Missouri loss, will try to conserve energy by running a 2-3 zone.
“The biggest thing with zone, kids think when you zone, it’s time to rest,” Martin said. “And that’s kind of what happened to us in the second half against Missouri. We lost the aggressiveness that we played the zone with in the first half. Our attention to detail, our desire to finish the possession wasn’t as good as it needed to be. We had some stand-around moments and Missouri made us play every time we did that.
“In the second half, our transition defense was really bad. I want to say we gave them … 11 points where we didn’t even defend.”
The Tigers scored 49 second half points, including 20 over the final 5:54 after USC cut their lead to four.
Perhaps a good sign for Carolina? The Aggies enter Tuesday last in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage.
3. Silva (foul) watch
The Mizzou loss featured zero rebounds from Chris Silva. That’s only happened four times in the senior big man’s career. He did foul out against the Tigers for the 22nd time in his career.
Silva scored 22 points and grabbed 14 boards against the Aggies in February. According to SportsReference.com, Silva enters Tuesday five away from passing Siena’s Lavon Long (2014-17) for having the most career fouls of any college player since 2009.
TEXAS A&M
Coach: Billy Kennedy (361-292 in 21 seasons overall; eight season at Texas A&M — 150-113)
Projected starters: G Wendell Mitchell (13.4 points per game), G Chris Collins (0.8), G Brandon Mahan (6.4), F Savion Flagg (12.8), F Christian Mekowulu (8.3)
Last game: Beat Vanderbilt 64-57 on Saturday at home
KenPom ranking: 79 (No. 121 in offense efficiency, No. 70 in defense efficiency)
NET: 69
SOUTH CAROLINA
Coach: Frank Martin (244-159 in 12 seasons overall; seventh season at USC — 127-105)
Projected starters: G Tre Campbell (7.0), G Hassani Gravett (11.4), F Keyshawn Bryant (8.7), F Chris Silva (14.2), F Felipe Haase (6.3)
Last game: Lost to Missouri 78-63 on Saturday on the road
KenPom ranking: 94 (No. 109 in offense efficiency, No. 97 in defense efficiency)
NET: 96
