Stetson @ South Carolina preview

After an upset victory over No. 13 Virginia, South Carolina returns home to close out its non-conference slate against Stetson on Monday. The Gamecocks defeated Virginia 70-59 - the most points allowed by the Cavaliers all season.

“I hope the people that never pay attention to our team - because they don’t watch us, they don’t watch the SEC - stop with the nonsense that we’re not any good. It’s a pretty good basketball team, and I think we’re getting a little better,” Gamecocks coach Frank Martin told The State after the resume-building victory. Expectations were not high for the team as it was picked to finish 10th in the SEC preseason coaches’ poll, but it has a chance to enter conference play 9-4 with one bad loss and a signature victory. South Carolina holds opponents to 38.3 percent shooting from the floor, third-best in the SEC and 33rd in the country entering Sunday. The task for the Gamecocks on Monday will be trying to stop a young Hatters team headlined by the high-scoring freshmen duo of Rob Perry and Mahamadou Diawara.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT STETSON (5-9): Perry averages 15.1 points and shoots 43.8 percent from 3-point range, but scored one point and was 0-for-9 from the field against Florida International in his last game as an encore to a 29-point outburst against UNC Asheville. Diawara shoots 62.5 percent from the field and heated up last week by averaging 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, leading to him being named the Atlantic Sun Newcomer of the Week. Junior guard Christiaan Jones has been inconsistent for the Hatters, though he has shown flashes of potential, scoring 14 points against Florida International, but is shooting just 25.5 percent from beyond the arc and has failed to connect from deep (0-for-7) in the last two games.

ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA (8-4): Redshirt junior Jair Bolden and his season-high 22 points propelled the team to victory against Virginia, leading to him being named SEC Co-Player of the Week, while the newcomer is fourth in the conference by shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range. But the team is still led by swingman AJ Lawson, who has scored in double figures in all but two games and has reached the 20-point plateau five times. Maik Kotsar, a 6-11 Estonian center, has been the team’s most efficient shooter, connecting on half the shots he takes, in addition to leading the team with six rebounds per game and 13 blocked shots.

TIP-INS

1. South Carolina is 6-0 when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field.

2. The Gamecocks are 7-1 when Bolden scores 10 or more points.

3. Stetson has started five freshmen in the last two games for the first time in program history.

PREDICTION: South Carolina 80, Stetson 64