Game Preview: Missouri Tigers Travel To South Carolina

When:  February 28th, 8:00pm CT

Location:  Columbia, SC

TV:  ESPN 2

Line:  Missouri -9.5

L.G. Patterson/AP

On Thursday, the Missouri Tigers will travel to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks.  Earlier this season, Mizzou beat South Carolina 71-65 in Mizzou Arena. The Tigers trailed for most of the game and had to rally from a 13 point deficit in the 2nd half.

Keion Bell and Laurence Bowers missed the first game against South Carolina due to injuries. Since returning from the injury, Bell has been on fire in the month of February. Bell has averaged 17.5 points and has shot 58.4% from the field this month. Bowers has struggled since returning from his injury, but it seems like he’s starting to find his game again. In the last two games against Florida and Kentucky, Bowers averaged 15 points and 7.5 rebounds.

The Tigers hope their road woes will end this week. Mizzou is 1-7 this season in true road games, and five of those losses are by single digits. Missouri has had several chances down the stretch in road games, they just haven’t had the ability to close out games. Mizzou has held a lead in the final minute of the game in four of their road losses.

South Carolina has struggled in SEC play, but they have been more competitive as of late. The Gamecocks defeated Ole Miss a week ago and took Georgia to overtime in a road game on Saturday. Frank Martin’s first season in Columbia has been a struggle. The Gamecocks are only 3-11 in SEC play, but in an interview on Wednesday with 810 WHB in Kansas City, Martin said he was happy with his team and how hard they are working over the last couple weeks.

The Gamecocks are led by Michael Carrera. Carrera leads the team with 10.2 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game. Brenton Williams is the only other Gamecock that averages over 10 points per game. Compare that to Missouri, who has six players averaging double digits in points.