MBB: Five Things to Watch - Texas A&M
SOUTH CAROLINA MEN’S BASKETBALL
South Carolina travels to Texas A&M Tuesday night for its final road game of the season.
1. Bubble Watch
If the Gamecocks had any chances of making the tournament left, they likely went out the window with the loss to Missouri. The Gamecocks’ NET ranking has plummeted to 96, and beating Texas A&M and Georgia won’t do much to boost it. If the Gamecocks still want to make the Big Dance, they are going to have to win the SEC Tournament to do it.
2. Seed Report
So about that SEC Tournament. For most of the year, South Carolina has managed to stay above the middle of the pack fray, although a rung below the SEC’s elite. No more. South Carolina is now one of five teams with a 9-7 conference record (and Alabama a game back at 8-8). All the contingencies for the various tiebreakers are too much to work out for each scenario, but the easiest thing to do is win the last two games, and hope the rest of the games break the right way to nab the fourth seed.
3. All About A.J.’s Ankle
Just how thin is the Gamecocks’ depth? Against Missouri, freshman walk-on Nathan Nelson, who had played just two minutes all season long, saw crunch time action. A.J. Lawson’s sprained ankle is healing and he has begun rehabbing, but Lawson will miss at least one more game. With Lawson out, South Carolina will once again dress just seven scholarship players.
4. Injury bug
Lawson’s is only the latest injury in what has been an injury-plagued season for South Carolina. It’s been so bad that you almost can’t do anything but laugh.
It began in November when Justin Minaya went down with a knee injury. Minaya tried to come back in February, but his knee didn’t respond and he opted to redshirt, having missed 24 games and counting. Not long after Minaya went down, freshman T.J. Moss suffered an ankle injury that would lead to a redshirt season, and 22 missed games. Another starter, Maik Kotsar, missed two games with a concussion, and Lawson will miss his second game Tuesday night. That’s a total of 50 games missed by starters, and doesn’t even get into the bench. Jason Cudd has missed 14 games and counting with a knee injury. Alanzo Frink has missed seven games with various injuries, but that doesn’t take into account all the practice time he missed before the season due to injury, which slowed his development this season.
So maybe don’t go around the team too much unless you have good health insurance.
5. Scouting the Aggies
The Aggies are on a bit of a hot streak since losing to the Gamecocks on February 16. They are 3-1 in the four game since, with the only loss coming at LSU, and there is no shame in that. Wendell Mitchell, who scored 20 against the Gamecocks, has come on since then, averaging 17 points per game in the last five. That is nearly four points higher than his season average.
The Ws
Who: South Carolina (14-15, 9-7) at Texas A&M (13-15, 6-10)
When: Tuesday, March 5, 7:00 pm
Where: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Watch: SEC Network