South Carolina drops regular-season finale at Auburn
KD Johnson saw the ball hit the bottom of the net, South Carolina’s bench deflated and Frank Martin called a timeout with the crowd erupting around him.
The Gamecocks 40 seconds earlier had just whittled an early double-digit deficit to two points but quickly found them on the wrong end of a big run.
South Carolina’s next three possessions after the Erik Stevenson jumper were two missed threes and a turnover while Auburn hit two twos and a three for a 7-0 run as the Tigers ultimately won the regular-season finale 82-71.
“We dug a hole for ourselves at the end of the first half,” said James Reese, who finished with 18 points. “It’s just too many mental lapses. We have to come up with loose balls on the road versus this team.”
First, it was Keyshawn Bryant turning the ball over and leading to an Auburn bucket in transition followed by both Bryant and Stevenson.
Bryant, after four first-half turnovers, would ultimately play better after halftime and finish with nine points on 4-for-10 shooting with seven of those points after the break.
“I thought he played well in the second half. It’s not he didn’t play well but he had a three-minute moment where he mentally got frustrated,” Martin said. “That’s the stuff freshmen do. That’s where the game got away from us. Then again, Jabari Smith could have missed the shots but he didn’t.”
Paced by Jermaine Couisnard’s 22 points, South Carolina struggled for consistency against Auburn’s top 20 defense in the country. They put together stretches where offensively the Gamecocks were getting and making, good looks.
Then they’d go through droughts allowing Auburn to build back its lead. That was in part to a few more hustle plays by the Tigers.
“We battled and battled. There were two things I spoke to the team about before the game. One was defensive rebounding,” Martin said. “The other was coming up with loose balls. There were four or five loose balls in the game. You say, ‘Well, it’s’ four or five loose balls. The problem is it’s four or five loose balls we don’t come up with and they get and come up with layups…Auburn is a great junk-ball shot-making team. They punish you in those plays.”
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Auburn ultimately shot two percent better than South Carolina and made two more threes. The Tigers shot and made seven more free throws compared to the Gamecocks.
Defensively the Gamecocks had spurts but couldn’t consistently stop the second most efficient offense in the league.
South Carolina missed its chance for a marquee win Saturday with a victory securing a win over the league’s best team and likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“Definitely,” Couisnard said. “We had opportunities down the stretch and came close but didn’t capitalize…Any time they’d make us pay when we didn’t come up with a loose ball.”
Now they have to regroup and play Thursday in the SEC Tournament needing a strong showing to get into the postseason.
“There are some plays that were backbreakers. They went on runs. It’s frustrating. We played so hard. I’m proud of the team,” Reese said. “We just have to have a good week next wee kin the tournament and regroup.”
