By Chris DePew
TideFans.com Staff
Feb. 7, 2017
Where to watch: Alabama (13-9, 6-4 SEC) at No. 19 South Carolina (19-4, 9-1) – Today 5:30 p.m. Central, Colonial Life Arena, SEC Network
Who to watch: Braxton Key. He turns the ball over too much, he’s been committing too many fouls and he’s still prone to all the mental errors you expect from a freshman. And if you are coach Avery Johnson you grit your teeth and let him work through it because Key’s talent and work ethic leaps out through the screen when watching him play. Key is leading the way with 15 points per game in conference play, raising his season average to 12.1 per game. Over the last two weeks he’s raised his free throw shooting average by roughly five percent, almost unheard of this late in the year for a player with more than a handful of attempts. His shooting percentage from the floor figures to improve in future years when he has more talented teammates and can afford to be selective, but for now he’s one of the few ways Alabama has of generating points. If Key and his team get humbled tonight, hopefully the experience will do him good down the road.
What to watch for: Better ball security. Bama struggles enough to score on possessions that end in a shot attempt. What really kills momentum is giving the ball away, something the Crimson Tide does an average of 14 times per game. Much of that has been carelessness from Key and Dazon Ingram, but the Gamecocks aren’t content to wait around for the other team to make mistakes. South Carolina is tops in the SEC with 8.2 steals per game, with Sindarius Thornwell swiping 2.4 per game to lead the conference. Alabama will need as many possessions as possible to crack the South Carolina defense, which leads the league in scoring defense and field goal defense and is the best in the nation at 3-point defense, allowing just 26.3 percent from long distance.
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