South Carolina Shows Grit, But Falls Just Short at Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. - South Carolina didn’t leave Neville Arena with a win Saturday night, but they did leave with something they didn’t have just a few days earlier: fight.
Coming off a 34-point blowout loss at Arkansas, the Gamecocks could’ve folded. Instead, they battled wire-to-wire in a tough road environment before falling to Auburn, 71-67. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t perfect, but it was progress-and that matters.
“This game, in the pregame, really all we talked about was non-basketball things and competing,” said head coach Lamont Paris. “Handling adversity in a way that you can very quickly get yourself refocused on exactly what is being said for the next play. I thought we did a much better job of that today.”
That mindset showed. South Carolina didn’t shoot the lights out, and they never led after the 14:53 mark in the first half.
But they never let the game get away either. Every time Auburn looked ready to pull away, the Gamecocks found a way to claw back in.
It was a game where the intangibles mattered just as much as the box score. South Carolina played with poise, stayed connected, and kept swinging-even when Auburn landed a few haymakers.
Let’s be clear: Auburn made the plays when it counted. The Tigers hit key shots down the stretch, converted at the free throw line, and held off a furious South Carolina rally in the final minutes. But it wasn’t without a scare.
The Gamecocks trailed by 11 with under five minutes to play. That’s usually the point where road teams fade.
Instead, South Carolina closed the game on a 5-for-5 shooting run, including a deep three from senior guard Meechie Johnson that cut the deficit to just two with four seconds left. Auburn iced it at the line, but the Gamecocks made them earn it.
“My team definitely fought today, given the last performance we had at Arkansas,” Johnson said. “Coach definitely cooked us in film, showed the plays and things we didn’t do well, and that hit guys pretty hard.
We still got a lot to clean up that will help us win games. We came out today, fought hard, really wanted to win.”
Johnson led the way with 17 points, while Kobe Knox chipped in 12 and nearly grabbed a double-double. Three other Gamecocks hit double figures in scoring, and the team played without freshman Eli Ellis, their fourth-leading scorer. Still, they held their own.
The first half was a grind for both sides. The teams combined to shoot just 29.3% from the field and a frigid 13.0% from three.
Auburn did most of its damage inside, outscoring South Carolina 18-8 in the paint before halftime. But the Gamecocks won the battle on the boards and didn’t allow a single second-chance point in the first 20 minutes.
The second half saw the Tigers string together a 5-of-7 shooting stretch to open up a nine-point lead. South Carolina answered with a 7-2 run of its own to keep things tight. That was the rhythm of the night-Auburn would surge, South Carolina would respond.
One of the key moments came with just under five minutes left. Auburn’s Filip Jovic picked off a pass and threw down a dunk in transition, pushing the lead to 11 and igniting the home crowd of over 9,000.
But South Carolina didn’t flinch. A three from Myles Stute and a quick bucket off a steal pulled the Gamecocks right back within striking distance.
“We focused on ourselves as a team and how we respond to what happens,” said freshman EJ Walker. “Coach emphasized getting in our huddles after fouls and dead balls, come together, talk to each other and get a good message and thoughts.”
The Gamecocks may not have gotten the win, but they showed signs of a team starting to figure out how to compete in the SEC. After the Arkansas loss, this was a necessary step forward.
Now, it’s about building on it.
South Carolina returns home Tuesday night to face Oklahoma at Colonial Life Arena. The Sooners are also coming off a tough loss, having squandered an 11-point halftime lead against Alabama.
Both teams will be hungry. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network.