South Carolina will return to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday to face Missouri in a Southeastern Conference (SEC) men’s basketball matchup. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast on the SEC Network, with Dave Neal providing play-by-play and Jon Sundvold as analyst.
Arena doors open at noon, one hour before tipoff. The first 1,300 students in The Cockpit student section will receive a special edition t-shirt, and free pizza will be available for the first 500 students.
The Gamecocks (11-12 overall, 2-8 SEC) are aiming to end a four-game losing streak in conference play after falling to Texas earlier this week. South Carolina trailed by just two points late in that contest before Texas closed out an 84-75 win. Meechie Johnson led South Carolina with a career-high 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting, becoming the first Gamecock since Sindarius Thornwell in 2017 to record multiple 30-point games in a season. Johnson is now one of six SEC players with more than one 30-point performance this year.
Johnson’s averages through ten SEC games include 19.7 points, 5.2 assists, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game. He is among only four SEC players ranked top-10 in scoring and top-five in assists during league play.
As a team, South Carolina leads the SEC and ranks tenth nationally in free throw percentage at 78.5%. The Gamecocks are also among the conference’s top five teams for three-point defense (31.2%) and fewest turnovers per game (10.1).
Missouri enters Saturday’s contest with a record of 15-7 overall and 5-4 in conference action after winning two of its last three league games, including recent home victories over Oklahoma (in overtime) and Mississippi State. On the road this season, Missouri has won twice but lost five times; they have secured just one conference road win at Kentucky earlier this year.
Forward Mark Mitchell leads Missouri with averages of 17.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game; he is third in the SEC for free throw attempts and fourth for free throws made this season. Guards Jayden Stone (14.6 points per game) and Jacob Crews (10.8) also contribute double-digit scoring averages, while sophomore T.O Barrett has averaged over ten points per contest during league play.
Crews is averaging more than two made three-pointers per game while shooting over forty-six percent from behind the arc overall; however, his accuracy has dropped to thirty-four percent during conference games.
In their all-time series against Missouri, South Carolina trails by one game at ten wins to eleven losses but holds an advantage when playing at home with five wins out of seven meetings since joining the SEC.
South Carolina’s statistical notes highlight several team achievements under head coach Lamont Paris:
– The Gamecocks are undefeated when making thirty or more field goals or dishing out twenty or more assists.
– They have won nearly seventy percent of games under Paris when holding opponents below seventy points.
– Meechie Johnson recently became just the ninth player in Division I this season to score thirty points in twenty-five minutes or less.
– Myles Stute reached his thousandth career point earlier this season.
Following Saturday’s matchup against Missouri, South Carolina will observe its midweek bye before traveling to Alabama on February 14 for another conference game.
