South Carolina @ Auburn preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 15, 2019 ) Auburn 73, South Carolina 64

Auburn has been forced to lick its wounds after a painful week and the 16th-ranked Tigers look to provide an answer to their first adversity this season when they host South Carolina on Wednesday night for an SEC contest. Auburn fought its way to 15 straight victories to open the season before losing by 19 at rival Alabama last Wednesday and getting routed 69-47 at Florida on Saturday to tumble 12 spots in the USA Today Coaches’ poll.

“I’m disappointed with our play,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl told reporters. “It’s the time of the year when we should be trying to elevate our play, and we’re not. Obviously, there’s a pretty big price on our head being ranked fourth in the country. And so I think we have to respond to the step-up that we saw this week from both Alabama and Florida.” Auburn, which knocked off South Carolina 73-64 in the SEC tournament last season during its magical run to the Final Four, will look to get its offense back in gear - after shooting 28.8 percent from the field combined the past two games - against a team ranked third in the league in field goal percentage defense entering Tuesday. The Gamecocks have won back-to-back games, starting with an 81-78 comeback victory over 14th-ranked Kentucky and continuing Saturday when they drained a school record-tying 16 shots from 3-point range to win 81-67 at Texas A&M. “They play good defense, but it’s a scheme we practiced and coach prepared us for,” South Carolina junior guard Jair Bolden told reporters after making 5-of-7 from behind the arc Saturday. “. … From one game to the next, we have talented guys who can play well and step up.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPNU

ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA (10-7, 2-2 SEC): The 6-3 Bolden was a healthy scratch against Kentucky but came through with 19 points along with six assists and four rebounds in the victory at Texas A&M to boost his season scoring average to 9.7. Guard Jermaine Couisnard, named the SEC freshman of the week on Monday, drained a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to beat Kentucky and is averaging 19.3 points over the past three games to raise his season mark to 10.6 with 2.6 assists. Sophomore guard A.J. Lawson leads the team in scoring (13.8) and senior forward Maik Kotsar adds 9.8 points and a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game.

ABOUT AUBURN (15-2, 3-2): Senior guard Samir Doughty leads the team in scoring (14.6) and made 3-pointers (30), but he is just 5-for-23 from the field overall (2-for-9 behind the arc) in the last two games. Freshman forward Isaac Okoro is second on the team in scoring (12.8, 53.7 percent shooting) after being held to a season low-tying seven points by Florida, and senior forward Danjel Purifoy was the only player in double figures against the Gators with 10. Senior point guard J’Von McCormick (10.9 points, team-high 4.8 assists) has struggled the last four games, connecting on 9-of-34 from the field with just 10 assists combined.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. South Carolina sophomore F Justin Minaya comes in off a career-high 18 points against Texas A&M.

2. Auburn senior C Austin Wiley averages 10.6 points along with a team-high 9.2 rebounds - second in the SEC.

3. Gamecocks sophomore F Keyshawn Bryant is considered day-to-day with a head injury, sustained in Saturday’s game.

PREDICTION: Auburn 70, South Carolina 61