WATCH: Auburn cuts down the nets after SEC clinching victory over South Carolina

Auburn made history on Saturday, clinching the SEC regular season crown at Neville Arena. In-front of a raucous crowd in ‘The Jungle’, the Tigers came out victorious over the South Carolina Gamecocks. Now, Auburn is celebrating by cutting down the nets.

Auburn HC Bruce Pearl cuts down the net #WDE pic.twitter.com/yMuqNtc8U8

— Rosie Langello (@RosieLangello) March 5, 2022

Led by their best player all season long — forward Jabari Smith — the Tigers accomplished the historic feat. For only the fifth time in school history and second time in since 1999, Auburn stands alone in the SEC after the regular season. In their SEC-clinching victory, Smith accumulated 21 points and six rebounds against the Gamecocks.

“It’s always chaos in Auburn Arena. Always chaos in ‘The Jungle.’ Just so happy for our players and our coaches,” stated Bruce Pearl after the win. “To win a regular season championship outright in this league, this year. Just tells you about the fact that our kids worked really hard. Took every opponent seriously. Came ready to play. God’s blessed us with this.”

Additionally, guard K.D. Johnson helped Smith lead the Tigers to victory. To illustrate, Johnson scored 17 points and pulled down three rebounds for Auburn during the SEC showdown.

“We respect this league, and we respect our opponent,” stated Pearl, regarding the SEC. “Often times, no matter where you are — you got to come ready to play. What we do doesn’t work without great effort and energy. Our defense is the heart and soul of what we do. If we don’t fly around and make plays and make it difficult for people to run their stuff. We’re built to be a great defensive team.”

On the other hand, South Carolina guard Jermaine Couisnard did his best to quell the Tigers‘ moment. In an upset big, the Gamecocks star was tremendous, scoring 22 points in the game. Additionally, South Carolina guard James Reese V attributed 18 points to the cause, as well.

Still, it wasn’t enough to stop Bruce Pearl and Auburn from accomplishing their lofty goal. The Tigers are officially the SEC Champions for the 2021-22 season, and there’s no one that can ever take that away from them.

Bruce Pearl on Auburn winning SEC: ‘It means so much to us.’

Moreover, the SEC has a ton of quality teams from top to nearly the bottom. A lot of teams have competed throughout the season, and many are looking at likely bids for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Pearl knows how hard it is to win a championship in the SEC, so he is truly savoring the moment and appreciating what it took for Auburn to get to this point.

“It means so much to us, because this league is so good,” Pearl said, after clinching a share of the SEC earlier this week. “And, you know, there are about seven or eight teams that could have won this thing, and the fact that Auburn put itself in this position is just incredible.”

Now, Auburn doesn’t have to share their title with anyone. The Tigers weren’t expected to win the SEC at the onset of the season, but Auburn stands alone.