South Carolina is one of the hottest teams in the entire country. The Gamecocks were picked to finish dead last in the SEC by the media before the season began. Now, in the middle of February, South Carolina sits atop the conference's standings at 21-3 overall and 9-2 in SEC play.
Leading the way for the surging Gamecocks is senior forward BJ Mack. Mack is currently second on the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (5.1 rpg). Since they lost to Georgia in January, the Gamecocks are winners of seven straight games and Mack has scored at least 16 in four of them.
The other force behind South Carolina's unlikely run is junior guard Meechie Johnson. Johnson leads the team in scoring with just over 14 points per game. As of late, he has not been the electric scorer that he was in the beginning of the season, but he has put his playmaking abilities on display to make up for it. During his team's seven-game win streak, Johnson is averaging just 5.7 points per game and an improved 4.3 assists per game. He is slumping offensively, but his team has picked up the slack.
Ta'Lon Cooper is one of the Gamecocks who has helped in the scoring department. Cooper is averaging 10 points per game on the season, but over the last seven games, he improved that mark to 12.5 points per game. South Carolina is not dependent on any one player; it is a complete team.
On the other side is Auburn. The Tigers were featured in last week's edition of the Midweek Game of the Week for their game against Alabama. They defeated Alabama handedly but fell to Florida on Saturday. Auburn has the privilege of throwing out Johni Broome, one of the best players in the entire country. Broome scored 24 and 14 points, respectively, against Alabama and Florida. Broome leads his team in scoring, rebounding, and blocking, and he ranks second in steals. Auburn's defense is excellent, and he is a big reason why.
While South Carolina ranks higher on the AP Poll, Auburn is the better team when you look at the metrics. KenPom.com ranks the Tigers fifth in the country and South Carolina 44th. NCAA's Net rankings have Auburn ranked seventh, and the Gamecocks ranked 45th.
There's an obvious disconnect between how the public sees South Carolina and how metrics see South Carolina. A great way for these two sides to agree is if South Carolina gets a big win on the road against a really good Auburn side.
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