CHARLESTON – With home victories over IU Indy and Piedmont College, as well as a win on the road at East Carolina, Charleston Southern entered the Thanksgiving holiday with a 5-3 overall record thus far into non-conference play. On Black Friday, the Bucs will take the floor against an SEC-opponent, South Carolina Gamecocks at 4:00 PM. Four days later, in Martin, Tennessee, CSU will face the UT-Martin Skyhawks.

A brief preview of both opponents can be found below:

Game #9

Opponent: at South Carolina

Date: November 28th

Time: 4:00 PM

TV: SEC Network+

• The Gamecocks hold a 4-2 record heading into their match-up with a fellow Palmetto-state opponent. Both of their losses were suffered at the Greenbrier Tip-Off event on November 21st and 23rd against Butler (72-79) and Northwestern (77-79) respectively.

• The Bucs will be the third Big South team South Carolina has faced already this season – beating both Presbyterian 81-61 on Nov. 12 and Radford 87-58 on Nov. 18.

• The only statistical category the Gamecocks rank highly in nationally is Three-Point Attempts Per Game – ranked 28th with 30.8 average attempts. Despite playing some of the highest volume-shooting teams in the country already (IU Indy and The Citadel), Charleston Southern's three-ball preventative defense has held opponents to only 21 attempts per game – posing an interesting battle of whose gameplan will be accomplished while the home team Gamecocks have offensive possession.

• SC is led by Head Coach Lamont Paris who is currently in his fourth year as the helm of the Columbia-based SEC institution.

• The undeniable primary option for SC is redshirt-senior guard, Meechie Johnson. Averaging a team-high 3.8 assists per game while also taking the most shots (82 total attempts) by an entire 37-attempts margin ahead of second place. 

• All three of the Gamecocks' leading scorers are perimeter players. In addition to Johnson's 16.2 points per night, Mike Sharavjamts and Eli Ellis combine for an additional 23.6 points per outing. Of the group, Sharavjamts is by far the most efficient, shooting 53/40/88 splits with only 3 turnovers on the season.

• The Bucs and Gamecocks have only met once in the past 20+ years. That match-up was two seasons ago in Columbia. The Dec. 16th contest was only the third of Coach Nimley's interim head coaching career, and was nearly his first big upset. CSU lost the battle by only four points, and the only player from that Buccaneer team who is still in a CSU jersey today was A'lahn Sumler. Sumler scored a team-second 15 points in the contest.

Game #10

Opponent: at UT Martin

Date: December 2nd

Time: 11:00 AM

TV: ESPN+

• A much improved UT Martin team from last year has already picked up wins against UNLV and Bradley so far this season.

• The Skyhawks three-point percentage defense is ranked Top-50 in the nation. Trying to slow down the Buccaneers' efficiency from downtown is an area that will be fun to watch during the Dec. 2 matinee-matchup. 

• Currently in his second season in Martin, Tennessee is Head Coach Jeremy Shulman. Shulman finished 14-19 in his first season, and one of those 19 losses was suffered in Charleston Southern's Buc Dome.

• The first ever contest between CSU and UT Martin occurred last season on December 3rd. The 15-point Buccaneer win started the all-time series in favor of the Lowcountry. A slim CSU roster that night limited the Bucs to only playing seven players – one of which being Reis Jones. Jones recorded 6 points and 4 boards in the contest.

• Three Skyhawks average over 13 points per contest. Andrija Bukumirovic (16.1), Dragos Lungu (13.8), and Matas Deniusas (13.1) all are lengthy perimeter threats ranging between 6'6" and 6'9". 

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