March Madness: Previewing Sunday’s Round of 32 Matchups
South Carolina (7) vs. Duke (2)
South Carolina has an incredible defense and will go as far as that will take them. They force a turnover on 21.4% of possessions, which is the sixth-best mark in the entire country.
Duke is a pretty good basketball program, in case you haven't heard. If they can take care of the ball, they should be alright against the Gamecocks. With that said, whenever you're facing a high-pressure -- and really good -- defense, crazy things can happen.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Kennard | Duke | 20.1 | 5.3 | 0.591 |
| Jayson Tatum | Duke | 16.9 | 7.3 | 0.507 |
| Grayson Allen | Duke | 14.1 | 3.7 | 0.500 |
| Sindarius Thornwell | South Carolina | 21.0 | 7.2 | 0.501 |
| PJ Dozier | South Carolina | 13.6 | 4.8 | 0.439 |
| Chris Silva | South Carolina | 9.8 | 5.7 | 0.439 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TOV% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TOV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #2 Duke | 17.12 | 115.7 | 0.548 | 52.0 | 14.3 | 100.2 | 0.475 | 15.0 |
| #7 S. Carolina | 12.29 | 101.5 | 0.472 | 50.7 | 16.1 | 90.8 | 0.448 | 21.4 |
