No. 20 Missouri (13-6, 6-6) vs. South Carolina (5-10, 3-8)
Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina; Saturday, 2 PM EST
RESULT: No. 20, Missouri, is a major challenge for South Carolina. South Carolina has won one of its five games against ranked opponents this season. Missouri fell 80-70 in Georgia on Tuesday.
SUPER SENIORS: Missouri has benefited a lot from its elderly. Dru Smith, Xavier Pinson, Jeremiah Tilmon, Mark Smith and Kobe Brown accounted for 77% of the team’s goals this season and 90% of all Tigers points in the last five games.
RAMPING IT UP: Gamecocks scored 75.8 points per game in 11 conference games, an improvement over the 69 per game they achieved against opponents outside the conference.DOMINANT DRU: D. Smith connected 39 percent of the 77 points of 3 points he tried and made 8 out of 18 in the last three games. He also hit 83.3 percent of his free throws this season.
PASSING TO 75: South Carolina has 0-10 this year when it allows 75 points or more and 5-0 when it keeps opponents under 75.
UNBEATEN WHEN: Gamecocks are 5-0 when opposing teams keep 71 points or less and 0-10 when opponents exceed 71 points. Tigers have 9 to 0 when they keep their opponents in a percentage of field goals of 41.3% or worse, and 4 to 6 when their opponents exceed that percentage.
DID YOU KNOW: South Carolina’s disturbing defense forced opponents to turn the ball with 23.1% of all possessions, the 28th best rate among First Division teams. Missouri has a forced turnover rate of just 18% in 19 games (ranking Tigers 259th).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com