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Vanderbilt Commodores (6-16, 1-8 SEC) at South Carolina Gamecocks (20-3, 8-2 SEC)
Columbia, South Carolina; Saturday, 1 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Vanderbilt visits the No. 15 South Carolina Gamecocks after Evan Taylor scored 20 points in Vanderbilt’s 109-77 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Gamecocks are 12-1 on their home court. South Carolina is fifth in the SEC with 15.4 assists per game led by Ta’Lon Cooper averaging 4.3.
The Commodores are 1-8 against SEC opponents. Vanderbilt ranks ninth in the SEC with 9.0 offensive rebounds per game led by Colin Smith averaging 2.3.
South Carolina’s average of 8.6 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.3 more made shots on average than the 8.3 per game Vanderbilt allows. Vanderbilt’s 39.0% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.2 percentage points lower than South Carolina has given up to its opponents (41.2%).
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Meechie Johnson Jr. is scoring 14.5 points per game and averaging 4.2 rebounds for the Gamecocks. Cooper is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for South Carolina.
Ezra Manjon is shooting 43.8% and averaging 14.7 points for the Commodores. Taylor is averaging 1.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Vanderbilt.
LAST 10 GAMES: Gamecocks: 8-2, averaging 68.6 points, 35.4 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 4.2 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 42.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.5 points per game.
Commodores: 2-8, averaging 65.0 points, 33.8 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 6.3 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 37.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.