Stetson Hatters at South Carolina Gamecocks Prediction and Pick

Stetson plays its second game in two nights in Columbia, one night after Collin Kuhl carried the Hatters through a competitive loss at Clemson. South Carolina opens its season at Colonial Life Arena with a rebuilt roster that was picked last in the SEC preseason poll.

The Matchup

Stetson walks into Colonial Life Arena on the second night of a back-to-back, and the Hatters have already shown their shape. They lost 85-72 at Clemson on Monday night, a game that sat close into the second half before Clemson's free throw parade settled it, with the Tigers attempting 35 free throws to Stetson's 9. Collin Kuhl scored all 20 of his points after halftime and the Hatters shot 57.1 percent in the second half, which is not what a team with nothing left looks like.

The longer view says this is a hard matchup on paper. Stetson went 12-21 last season and finished 7-11 in the ASUN, scoring 73.7 points per game and allowing 79.7. South Carolina went 13-19, scored 74.9 and allowed 76.5, and went 4-14 in the SEC.

Those are last season's numbers, and both rosters look different now, but neither program earned the benefit of the doubt. The Gamecocks were picked 16th in this year's SEC preseason poll, dead last, and the last meeting between these two in this building, on December 6 of last year, ended 82-51 for South Carolina.

The health picture tilts toward the visitors. South Carolina opens the season without freshman Grant Polk, who is out for about six weeks with a lower leg injury, and without Mathias Alessanco, who is out with a torn ACL.

Freshman big Aleksas Bieliauskas is questionable after he strained his lower leg and limped off during the Campbell exhibition on October 25, and Lamont Paris has not confirmed him for this game. Keep an eye on whether Bieliauskas plays before placing a bet. No Stetson player carries an injury report into the game.

Key Factors

Everything for Stetson runs through Kuhl, and the matchup suits him. The senior averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds last season, made the Third Team All-ASUN, and shot 65.6 percent from the floor, the best mark in the conference and sixth in the country, on his way to being named the ASUN Preseason Player of the Year.

He put up 31 at Jacksonville and 28 at FGCU last season, and his 20 second-half points at Clemson came against an ACC frontcourt. South Carolina's interior, thinned by the Polk and Alessanco absences and the Bieliauskas question, has to guard him without fouling, because the Clemson tape shows what happens to Stetson's chances when the whistle goes one way.

The Hatters also have real secondary scoring this year. Thiago Sucatzky, in from FIU, scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting with 6 assists and no turnovers against No. 1 Florida in an October 27 exhibition the Hatters had within two at halftime, and Alex Doyle matched him with 18 points and six made threes in the same game.

Magnus Entenmann added 16 points at Clemson on Monday. South Carolina counters with transfer guard Kory Mincy, who averaged 14.3 points at George Mason and shot .887 at the line, and with Juan Fernandez, whose 28 points and 10-of-12 free throw shooting dragged the Gamecocks past Campbell 77-68 in an exhibition they trailed at halftime.

The honest counterpoint is the schedule and the building. Stetson played a full game at Clemson last night and South Carolina has been rested since October 25, and a rested home team with fresher legs can turn a six point game into a rout in one second half run, which is exactly what happened in this fixture last December.

Every pick is published with its line before the game. Odds via consensus sportsbooks at time of writing and move constantly. Must be 21+. If gambling is a problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.