Uva's takeaways from South Carolina falling to Auburn in SEC Tournament
What it means
South Carolina will turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament after falling to Auburn 86-55 in the quarterfinals of SEC Tournament on Friday. With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to (26-7) on the year. The 26 wins are currently tied for the most in a season in program history with the 2016-17 Final Four team.
Slow start
Despite dusting the cobwebs off and playing on Thursday, South Carolina struggled to take advantage of an Auburn team who had a double-bye, who were playing in their first game of the tournament. The Tigers shot 48.6 percent in the first half (17-of-35) while the Gamecocks shot 25 percent (7-of-28) from the field.
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
Offensive woes
Auburn continued to shoot the ball well in the second half and finished shooting 49.3 percent from the field (34-of-69) while South Carolina struggled to get in a groove on offense. Throughout the game, the Gamecocks had several scoring droughts, which changed the way they liked to play offense. One thing that caused this was turnovers. Finishing with ten turnovers, USC turned the ball over seven times in the first half.
No Stute
The Gamecocks were playing short-handed on Friday. Guard Myles Stute was out of the lineup with a hip pointer. Prior to the game, South Carolina called Stute’s status “day-to-day.” From talking with a team source, I was told it comes down to dealing with the pain. It’s tough to move around with an injury like that, and that was evident with the slight limp he was showing when he walked on Friday.
[Click here to subscribe to the Gamecock Central YouTube page for FREE!]
Being cautious
Early in the second half, Ta’Lon Cooper appeared to have rolled his ankle. When he checked out, he reached down towards the area several times while sitting on the bench. Around the 13:29 mark, Cooper appeared to be checking in but after what looked like a slight limp, Lamont Paris quickly had him sit back down on the bench and instead went with someone else. Cooper eventually checked in at 11:32 but after 30 seconds of being on the court, he checked back out.
The bottom line
It was a tough way to go out in the SEC Tournament but they need to flush it and get ready for the NCAA Tournament. Those are words that this city has been waiting to say for seven years. This team has already overachieved in more ways than one but the best part, the ride isn’t over yet. South Carolina will hold a private watch party for Selection Sunday at Home Team BBQ on Sunday at 6 p.m. GamecockCentral will have updates that even as we await to see where and when the Gamecocks will play in the Big Dance.
