Auburn men’s basketball was already a heavy favorite in its Saturday afternoon matchup with South Carolina, and the game just got tougher for the Gamecocks.

Starting point guard Jamarii Thomas was ruled out on Friday night’s Southeastern Conference availability report, a sizable blow to South Carolina’s offense. Thomas is averaging 12.3 points and 3.3 assists per game this season, leading the team in the latter category. Thomas also leads the team in minutes per game, averaging 31.1.

His absence is due to a knee sprain suffered in practice, according to a release from the university Friday evening. When previewing the game during his Thursday news conference, Bruce Pearl said he was “really impressed” with Thomas.

Thomas and senior guard Myles Stute were the two players listed as out on Friday’s report and forward Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk was listed as probable.

No Auburn players were listed on the availability report, meaning the Tigers will have all of their players available for Saturday’s game.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com