SEC Tournament: Recapping The Opening Round Action

Auburn’s 3-point shooting gives Tigers the edge in the end

All season long, Auburn has had to depend on either Antoine Mason, Cinmeon Bowers, or KT Harrell to shoot lights out from the field to give the Tigers a chance of staying in a basketball game.

In the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Wednesday night, unsung heroes K.C. Ross-Miller and Alex Thompson had to carry Auburn (13-19), losers of its final six games of the regular season, on their broad shoulders into the next round.

Ross-Miller lead the way in scoring with 21 points en route to the Tigers’ 74-68 win over Mississippi State. Harrell scored 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting and Thompson, who averaged 2.3 points per game in the regular season, scored 16 points off the bench.

For one of the very few times this season, Auburn was able to ice a game without two of its top three scorers being effective on the offensive end.

The Tigers were up 56-45 at the 11:37 mark in the second half, then the Bulldogs (13-19) went on a 16-4 run to take the 61-59 lead with 7:11 left in the game, but couldn’t capitalized on their golden opportunity.

Craig Sword led Mississippi State with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Sword did his part in trying to get his team into Thursday’s game against Texas A&M, but his teammates weren’t as reliable as they should have been.

The difference maker in this one was the 3-point shooting from Auburn, which went 8-of-15 from deep. The Bulldogs connected on only one trey out of 13 attempts, which came from Sword when Mississippi State was up 18-11 early in the first half.

With the win, the Tigers will take on the Aggies, who will be without leading scorer Danuel House (14.8 ppg), who has missed Texas A&M’s last two games with a foot injury he suffered in the Aggies’ 66-62 road loss to Florida on March 3.

The last time these two teams met, the Aggies dominated Auburn, 80-55 on Feb. 28. Texas A&M had four players to score in double figures: Jalen Jones (19), House (15), Alex Caruso (14), and Kourtney Roberson (12). Harrell was the only Tiger to score in double digits with 18.

Thornwell leads South Carolina to win over Missouri

South Carolina’s coach Frank Martin got into all of his player’s faces for not being aggressive enough in the first half after blowing a 13-point lead that turned into a 30-24 lead at halftime.

During this time of the year, it’s all about surviving and advancing.

Sindarius Thornwell heard his coach loud and clear as he scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half to lead the Gamecocks (16-15) past Missouri 63-54. Playing with four fouls, Michael Carrera scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting off the bench. South Carolina shot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the field and its defense held the Tigers to 36 percent shooting overall.

Missouri (9-23) killed its chances of advancing into the second round by turning the ball over and failing to score crucial points down the stretch.

The Tigers committed 15 turnovers, which led to 19 points for the Gamecocks, who had 17 assists on 21 made baskets. Missouri won in four major categories in its loss to South Carolina: rebounds (35-26), second-chance points (13-9), bench points (26-15), and points in the paint (26-16).

But, the Tigers went scoreless in the final eight minutes and the Gamecocks were able to pull away.

South Carolina will play Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC tournament. The Rebels currently hold an 18-15 lead over the Gamecocks in their history of matches. Ole Miss has won its last four meetings against South Carolina, including a season sweep last season.

Next: Busting Bracketology: March 12th - Bubble Teams Avoid Bad Losses