College Hoops Picks: Mississippi Rebels at South Carolina Gamecocks

Preview

Mississippi (1-3, 10-8) has had an up-and-down season so far—after going 5-1 in November, they have gone 5-7 for December and January, trading off wins and losses until they lost back-to-back in their two most recent conference games.

South Carolina (2-2, 13-4), on the other hand, has had more success this season, going 11-2 in non-conference play, and then losing at LSU before losing by three to Tennessee. This game kicks off a tough four game stretch, where the Gamecocks host Mississippi and Vanderbilt before traveling to Kentucky and Florida.

South Carolina has four players averaging double-digit points while Ole Miss only has two, but they are both averaging almost 20. The biggest distraction for the Rebels right now is the legal action being taken against coach Kennedy for assault on a cab driver and Kennedy's suing of the cab driver for defamation.

But enough about the coaches problems, here's how the two stack up:

Stats

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Mississippi	10-8	1-3	7-6	72	16	72.6	71.7
South Carolina	13-4	2-2	7-5	65	145	79.5	67.6

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG
Mississippi	43.4	44.2	35.2	33.8	75.1	39.5	6.4	12.1
South Carolina	46.6	42.7	38.6	32.0	65.5	40.5	10.2	11.9

Prediction

Current Line: South Carolina -10.5

Mississippi ATS: 7-6, 3-3 when underdog
South Carolina ATS: 7-5, 4-3 when favored

In South Carolina's four SEC games, they would have covered this spread only once (when they defeated Auburn by 12). Their other three games are two losses and a one point victory over Florida. Ole Miss has lost to Florida by 10, defeated Arkansas, lost to LSU by 22 and to Alabama by three, so they would have only not covered this spread once.

Every game is different, though, so it's not correct to look at only the SEC games they have played so far. We should also look at the history between the two teams—since 2002, both of these teams have five victories over the other, although South Carolina has grabbed the most recent two.

The battles between these two SEC rivals have historically been very close—since 2002, only three of the ten games have been decided by 11 points or more. In fact, four of the games have been decided by five points or less, and another three have been decided by only six points.

I think the Gamecocks will walk away victorious, but I do not think that they'll be able to pull off the 11 point victory.

Pick: Mississippi +10.5

*All statistics for this article have come from StatSheet.com*

*This article is also featured on CFBPlace.com—and soon to be featured on CBBPlace.com*