Auburn basketball vs Jacksonville State: Five things to know about the Gamecocks
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Despite Auburn's recent struggles, there are still high expectations of Bruce Pearl's squad heading into the NCAA Tournament.
In all honesty, the Tigers received a fairly decent draw, coming into the tournament as a two seed, facing off against Jacksonville State in the first round. If the Tigers win, they'll advance to face either No. 7 seed USC or No. 10 seed Miami, who sit at 42 and 62 in the KenPom rankings.
If there are any aspirations of making a deep run, it all starts with Jax State. Here are five things you need to know about the Gamecocks.
They live and die by the three
The Gamecocks earn 37.6% of their points from beyond the arc, which is 43rd nationally according to KenPom. They take about 24 threes per game and make them at an incredibly high rate (38.2%, 11th nationally). If Jax State can knock down some triples in this matchup, it will negate some of their other issues they have as a team.
They enter the tournament shooting relatively cold, going a combined 15-of-60 from beyond the arc in their last three games (25.0%).
Jacksonville State is a guard centric team. Four of their starters are 6-foot-7 or smaller. Their one big man, Brandon Huffman, is relatively ineffective on the offensive end, and struggles to get back in transition.
Auburn can definitely run on this team if they want to, but getting to the rim instead of shooting a large amount of threes should be important. Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith should be in for a solid game if the Gamecocks can't defend their length.
Their pace of play is slow
For a team that is smaller and loves to shoot the three, Jacksonville State does not elect to run in transition or look for baskets early in their offense. The Gamecocks are 276th nationally in adjusted tempo, with one of the longest average offensive possession lengths in the country (19.0 seconds per possession, 323rd nationally).
It would also be assumed that because Jax State likes to slow things down, they don't make as many mistakes. However, the team struggles not only with turnovers (20.0% of possessions end in a turnover) but non-steal turnovers as well (10.2% of possessions end with a self-inflicted turnover).
This would indicate that the Gamecocks are sloppy with the basketball and consistently shoot themselves in the foot by throwing the ball out of bounds, traveling, getting called for charges, or running the shot clock out.
The defense isn't very aggressive
State has elected to play a relatively non-confrontational style of defense, meaning that they don't turn their opponents over 258th nationally in turnover percentage, and when you watch the film it is very clear that they do not apply pressure to opposing teams, specifically their backcourts.
This is a huge win for Auburn if the Gamecocks elect to do the same on Friday. The Tigers have struggled immensely against high ball pressure or when opponents hedge screens. If Jax State slacks off and lets Auburn operate, the Tigers should score with their height advantage.
Darian Adams is their key to success
Adams is the driving force of the team. He averages 15.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. He's a solid distributor, but benefits from how well his teammates shoot. All three of Jackonville State's top scorers shoot 38.5% or better from three. Adams is excellent at driving to the rim and finding the open man. He also has good size at 6-foot-3. If you limit him, you limit the offense.
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