No. 11 South Carolina seed (6-14, 4-12) vs. No. 6 Mississippi seed (15-10, 10-8)
Southeastern Conference Tourney second round, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 9:30 PM EST
CONCLUSION: South Carolina and Mississippi are prepared to match the second round of the SEC tournament. The only meeting between the teams this season was on February 13, when the Rebels overtook South Carolina by 50 percent to 40.4 percent and hit 12 more free kicks on their way to an 81-74 victory.
ADVANCING: Mississippi’s Devontae Shuler averages 15.6 points, while Romello White has 11 points and 5.8 rebounds. For the Gamecocks, AJ Lawson averaged 16.9 points and 4.1 rebounds, while Keyshawn Bryant had 13 points and 4.9 rebounds. PRECISE AJ: Lawson hit 35.6 percent of the 163 points out of 3 he tried and hit 12 out of 37 in his last five games. He also converted 68.9 percent of his free kicks this season.
SLIDING TO 75: South Carolina has 0-13 when it allows at least 75 points and 6-1 when it keeps opponents under 75.
UNDEFICIATED WHEN: Mississippi has 13-0 GBP when its defense keeps opponents at a field goal percentage of 41.2% or less. The rebels are 2-10 when they allow opponents to shoot better than that.
GAME PACE: South Carolina’s optimistic attack averages 75.2 possessions per game, the tenth highest in Division I. Mississippi has operated at a slower pace and averages only 67 possessions per game (ranked 281st, nationally).
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com