How To Watch: No. 15 South Carolina Vs. Ole Miss

South Carolina's men's basketball team will face a new kind of pressure when they take on the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday night.

Author:
Andrew Lyon
Publish date:
Feb 5, 2024 9:17 PM EST

For most of this season, Lamont Paris and the South Carolina Gamecocks have been able to thrive in the underdog role, constantly finding external ways to motivate themselves and remain humble in the face of growing success. They've taken on every challenge that's been presented in front of them and, for the most part, conquered them. Tomorrow night, they'll face a different task: handle the newfound national respect while sticking to their core identity as a team and program.

The first opponent they'll face since being ranked earlier this afternoon will be Ole Miss, in a matchup between two of the biggest surprises in the SEC this season. First-year coach Chris Beard has the Rebels currently sitting at 18-4 with a 5-4 conference record and has generated a palpable buzz in Oxford just like Lamont has in Columbia.

As far as the Rebels on-court play is concerned, there are two areas where they excel: taking care of and sharing the basketball more efficiently than their opponent and knocking down shots from behind the arc.

Notable Ole Miss Stats

Assist-to-turnover ratio: 20th (1.55)
Steals: 36th (8.6 per game)
Turnover Margin: 40th (+3)
Three-Point Shooting %: 13th (38.7 percent)

The Rebels possess a balanced scoring attack in their starting lineup, as four different players average 12 plus points per game, including senior guard Matthew Murrell, who scored 23 points in the Colonial Life Arena last season.

Meechie Johnson attempts to steal the ball from Ole Miss' Matthew Murrell (17th Jan., 2023) — **Meechie Johnson** attempts to steal the ball from Ole Miss' Matthew Murrell (17th Jan., 2023)
Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

There is one intriguing aspect of this matchup, one where the Gamecocks could make some headway in this matchup, and that's Ole Miss' road defense. In six total road games this season, the Rebels are giving up 78.8 points per game on average to their opponents. Four of those road games have been against teams who rank in the Top 50 nationally in field goal percentage defense; Ole Miss is 1-3 in those games and allows their opponents to shoot 47.6 percent from the field, 7.5 percentage points higher than what they're doing offensively.

Also, the Rebels have only faced one team on the road who ranks in the bottom 120 in adjusted tempo: Texas A&M (318th per Kenpom). That could be something to monitor ahead of this matchup as well.