South Carolina at Georgia: Three things to watch for, scouting the opponent and injury report

The search for the first SEC win of the year rolls on. After setting a new record for worst start to conference play in program history, South Carolina hits the road with the goal of snapping its seven-game losing skid.

The Gamecocks (10-10, 0-7 SEC) will take on Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum Tuesday night. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

Here are three things to watch for, an opponent scouting report on the Bulldogs, plus the latest injury report.

Something has to give

As bad as South Carolina’s struggles have been this month, Georgia hasn’t been much better lately. The Bulldogs got off to a great start with only one loss through non-conference play and earned two top 25 wins over Kentucky and Oklahoma. But since then, they’ve lost four straight and look a lot more beatable now.

In fairness, Georgia’s schedule in that stretch wasn’t easy with games against Tennessee, Auburn and Florida, all top 10 teams. Then again, it also lost to a bad Arkansas team that’s off to a 1-6 SEC start under John Calipari. Even for comparison sake, the Dawgs lost by 30 to Florida. South Carolina lost by one at the last second.

However, none of that really means anything when these two teams take the floor on Tuesday. One thing is certain, though. One of these teams will get the monkey off their back and move back into the win column to end their losing streak. Georgia is a solid home team, though, with its only loss coming to Auburn by two points.

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Can Thomas provide that consistent guard production?

Guard play has been an issue all season long for South Carolina. It’s not even really comparable to what Ta’Lon Cooper and Meechie Johnson provided last year. If they had one or both of those players right now, things might be looking a lot different and better. But that’s just not in the cards this year.

The Gamecocks did get Jamarii Thomas back against Mississippi State with some positive results. The senior point guard came off the bench and played 33 minutes, finishing with 19 points and went 10-of-12 at the free throw line. He also had four steals but five turnovers, too. So there’s some give and take there. But there’s no doubt he gives them at least some of what they’ve been needing at the position.

The rest of the guard play was atrocious on Saturday, with Jacobi Wright, Zachary Davis and Morris Ugusuk combining for 12 points on 5-of-24 shooting. It’s even worse when you factor in Arden Conyers coming off the bench and going 1-for-9 from the floor. He did have 12 points but nine of them came at the free throw line.

It’s so important for South Carolina to find an answer at guard, which needs to be Thomas. Collin Murray-Boyles can only do so much on his own. When he’s having a good game but not scoring in huge numbers, you get a game like the most recent one where the team shot an abysmal 29.3 percent.

What’s the magic number?

If South Carolina is going to win this game, it will have to do a better job of scoring more consistently. This was kind of an issue in the Mississippi State game where the offense shot 40.7 percent in the second half and a combined 19.4 percent in the first half and overtime. That’s not going to be enough to win in this league.

But in reality, if South Carolina has a shot to win on Tuesday, it will come down to its defense. The Gamecocks have done a good job this season of keeping teams in check — for the most part — and not letting games get out of hand. On the season, they’ve allowed 68.8 points per game, but when you chalk it up to just SEC games, opponents are averaging 74.6 points.

With the exception of three blowout losses, though, they’ve only lost by five or less points in the four other games in SEC play. It just shows that the margin for error is razor thin. Georgia hasn’t been scoring in big numbers lately, only averaging 62 points during its four-game losing streak. If South Carolina can keep up with that trend and hold the Dawgs to under 70, the offense has to be able to do enough.

Scouting the opponent

For a full look into Georgia, click here to read Resume Check: Looking ahead to South Carolina basketball’s next opponent, the Georgia Bulldogs.

Injury report

For South Carolina, Myles Stute is OUT (blood clot).

For Georgia, Justin Abson is QUESTIONABLE (undisclosed).

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Game details

Who: South Carolina (10-10, 0-7 SEC) at Georgia (14-6, 2-5 SEC)

When: Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.

Where: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

How to watch/listen: SEC Network/107.5 The Game

ESPN gives South Carolina a 21.6 percent chance to win

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