Mizzou Hoops preview: Tigers return home for a meeting with South Carolina

Missouri fans are well aware of the delays that COVID-19 can cause in a college basketball season. After all, Tigers are just a game removed from their own 11-day break. But those 11 days must seem like a brief hiccup to South Carolina fans, who have witnessed just six Gamecock games in the youth season, only three of which have occurred since December 5. And as if that weren’t enough of a shock to the system, technician Frank Martin became one of the unfortunate (but rare) people to be diagnosed with COVID-19 twice.

Even so, Gamecocks don’t have much reason to bow their heads. When they played, they were decent. They battled LSU in a five-point defeat on the road last weekend and faced off against Houston when the two teams clashed in early December. In a sense, it’s a typical Frank Martin team – it lasts like nails, even if the nails are a little rusty.

In fact, Tuesday’s clash with Missouri is one of the few times in this season when South Carolina has had the opportunity to gain momentum. The Gamecocks played their first game in 10 days last Saturday, a layoff that mirrored Missouri almost until the day. He comes in the middle of a difficult three-game streak for Martin’s team, which will follow Tuesday’s game with a trip home to face Auburn and Sharife Cooper relived.

But South Carolina, like Missouri and any other Division I team, is probably grateful for the opportunity to play. After all, we know well how these dark days are enhanced by the normalizing presence of sports. Hopefully, Carolina and Missouri can get through the rest of the campaign without more fright at COVID.

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Note: These initial lineups are designed.

Here is a strange fact about South Carolina: there is only one new face that Gamecocks have added to their regular rotation since the 2020 season, and he is a veteran. South Carolina played only one freshman in the youth season. This is not a stran – wait, what is it? Is Missouri literally in the same position?

Well then. It seems that Frank Martin and Cuonzo Martin are even more similar than we thought.

Gamecocks are definitely stimulated by their large second and third year classes, and they have only one player set to graduate after the season (assuming he doesn’t make the extra year of eligibility). That would be the transfer UNC Seventh Woods, a plug-in shipowner that provided more defense than anything.

The real meat of programming can be found on faces that Missouri fans should be familiar with. Junior Justin Minaya leads the team in minutes played and is having his best season as a Gamecock. It is a prototypical combination of small forward size, recovering at a level above its size while providing good internal defense and efficient internal attack. The same can be said about AJ Lawson and Keyshawn Bryant, who play similar roles with slight wrinkles. Bryant is more of a high-volume gunner and less of a rebound, while Lawson offers a more diverse offensive threat. He can also be considered the best three-point shooter in the team (with only 32.5%), mainly because he is the best of only three players to shoot more than 10 shots in the season.

Wildens Leveque is the biggest (and I mean literally) inner threat of Gamecocks, although he appears to be a player that Jeremiah Tilmon could suit well. He is very happy in defense and is not spectacular in attack, although he swallows the offensive plates.

Second year Jermaine Couisnard is the best creator of Gamecock outside the backcourt and plays defense with the ball. It may be better, however, to let him drive to the edge, where he hits just 35.1 percent, just two points better than his long-range percentage. Sophomore Trae Hannibal will also have a few minutes on the backcourt, as a way to give Couisnard and Woods a break. South Carolina does not engage with many players below 6’6 ”,

Given the abbreviated nature of the Gamecocks season, it seems unfair to summarily dismiss the rest of South Carolina’s rotation as ineffective, but it is difficult to get a reading of its depth with so few games. The combo’s second year striker Jalyn McCreary played only four of the six games, and he appeared as an internal threat at both ends … when he isn’t committing a foul at an astronomical pace. Second-year colleague TJ Moss has been an effective pitcher in just a few minutes, but it’s hard to justify putting the ball in his hands when he has seen it almost half the time. Alanzo Frink has also struggled to win a role in his strange junior season, although it is worth losing a few defensive minutes because of his great structure.

When Missouri has the ball …

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

What to watch | Attack the hoop, capitalize on the free-throw line

As would be expected from a Frank Martin team, South Carolina is solid defensively, with a glaring weakness, which deserves the name “Murder Ball”, even though South Carolina is much faster than a traditional team Frank Martin. The USC is one of the worst teams in the country to limit fouls and is killed on the free throw line by its opponents. This must be good news for Xavier Pinson, who will try to recover from a lackluster performance at College Station.

Apart from the fouls, however, South Carolina’s two-point defense is also not particularly strong. They are in 199th place in the country, allowing opponents to shoot 50.7 at close range. This causes Missouri to attack painting with abandon, allowing South Carolina’s inherent aggressiveness to work against them. Look for many aggressive and pick-and-roll impulses for the rim of Pinson, Dru Smith and Javon Pickett.

When South Carolina has the ball …

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What to watch | Limit free possessions, second chances

South Carolina plays fast, which should benefit Missouri in general. But part of the limitation of Gamecock’s attack begins when the Tigers have the ball. South Carolina’s best defensive asset is to force turnover and convert it into transition opportunities. If Missouri can take good care of the ball, they will force South Carolina into the half. It is a strategy that Missouri should be familiar with, as it has been used on them throughout the SEC game.

Gamecocks have a strength that keeps their attack above average – offensive rebound. Gamecocks are one of the top 25 teams in creating second chances on the glass, and that covers many of their shortcomings. They saw the ball a little, they are not a great shooting team and they do not shoot well in free throws. But if Missouri doesn’t get a good position below the basket, Gamecocks can steal some extra belongings.

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Missouri 75, South Carolina 70 | The Missouri vs. The Games South Carolina is always a fascinating turning point, as Cuonzo Martin and Frank Martin have created very similar programs in their respective Columbias. Both teams play stubborn physical basketball that can turn into a kind of stone fight when kicks aren’t falling.

Even though South Carolina is not particularly strong this year, they are not taking it easy. Missouri will have to play a full game if it wants to win.