South Carolina’s men’s basketball team will continue its road schedule with a game against Auburn on Saturday night at Neville Arena. Both teams hold records of 10-7 overall and 1-3 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast on SEC Network, with Mike Morgan providing play-by-play commentary and Pat Bradley as analyst.
On Wednesday, South Carolina lost to No. 17 Arkansas, who remain undefeated at home this season. Meechie Johnson led all scorers with 29 points, making nine of his thirteen field goal attempts and adding six assists. This marks Johnson’s eighth game this season with five or more assists. Johnson currently averages 14.7 points, 4.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game—one of only three players in the SEC meeting those thresholds.
South Carolina leads the SEC in free throw shooting percentage at 78.7%, which also ranks seventh nationally. Five Gamecocks have made at least thirty free throws while shooting above 77%. Mike Sharavjamts leads the team in free throw percentage at 90.2%, ranking third in the SEC and twenty-ninth nationally. Johnson has made a team-high sixty-four free throws, placing him thirteenth in the league.
The Gamecocks are also among the best in ball security, ranking third in the SEC and twenty-ninth nationally by averaging just under ten turnovers per game.
Auburn enters Saturday’s contest after a loss to Missouri but previously defeated then-No.15 Arkansas at home last weekend. Auburn features five players averaging double-digit points per game, led by Keyshawn Hall—a transfer from UCF—who averages 20.9 points per game (third in the SEC and twenty-ninth nationally) while shooting nearly fifty percent from the field and over forty-two percent from three-point range.
Tahaad Pettiford adds fourteen points per game for Auburn; both he and Hall average just over three assists each to lead their team. Other key contributors include transfers Kevin Overton (12.9 ppg), Elyjah Freeman (10.6 ppg), and KeShawn Murphy (10.1 ppg).
First-year head coach Steven Pearl has guided Auburn to a strong home record of seven wins against one loss this season—the only defeat coming against Texas A&M earlier this month by two points.
Auburn averages nearly eighty-seven points per game but allows almost seventy-nine points on defense, ranking fifteenth in scoring defense within the conference. The Tigers frequently reach the foul line: they are seventh nationally in free throws made per game (20.2) and sixth in attempts (27.9). Hall is second nationally for total free throws made (121) and sixth for attempts (141). Additionally, Auburn ranks tenth nationwide with an average of over fourteen offensive rebounds per contest.
Historically, Auburn leads the series against South Carolina thirty-three wins to nineteen overall, including a fourteen-to-eight advantage at home and nine consecutive victories since January 2020.
According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index for this season, South Carolina faces one of the toughest remaining schedules in college basketball—ranked sixth nationally—with every SEC school appearing among the top twenty hardest schedules.
Under head coach Lamont Paris, South Carolina has achieved notable success when reaching certain statistical milestones: a fifteen-and-one record when shooting fifty percent or better from the field; nineteen-and-one when scoring eighty or more points; forty-seven-and-ten when holding opponents below seventy points; twenty-nine-and-three when limiting opponents to under forty percent shooting; seven-and-oh records both when making half their three-point shots or dishing out twenty-plus assists; eleven-and-oh when making thirty or more field goals; four-and-oh this season when bench players score forty or more points; seventeen-and-two over three seasons when Myles Stute scores ten-plus points; ten-and-two when Stute makes three or more three-pointers.
Meechie Johnson and Myles Stute have combined for four hundred seventy-three career three-pointers made at Division I level—placing them among NCAA leaders—and together with teammates bring extensive experience totaling over five hundred games played collectively.
Stute reached his thousandth career point earlier this season while Johnson became South Carolina’s forty-eighth player to join its thousand-point club recently against The Citadel.
Elijah Strong recorded a thirty-point performance earlier this month at LSU—becoming only the ninth Division I player this season to score thirty or more points in twenty-five minutes or less—and only fifth since 2004-05 to do so during an SEC contest.
South Carolina returns home next Tuesday to face Oklahoma following Saturday’s matchup against Auburn.
