Ad Disclosure
Auburn lost its best player midway through the second half on Saturday in Columbia and still rallied to beat South Carolina. 66-63.
The Gamecocks led the No. 2 team in the nation 40-34 at the halftime break, seeking just their third-ever win over an AP Top 2 program. After Tennessee lost to Florida earlier in the week, Auburn went into Saturday’s matchup knowing a win would boost it up to the No. 1 spot in the country.
At 15-1 (3-0 in SEC play), Auburn is off to its best start since the 2021-22 season.
The Tigers led South Carolina 20-11 early in the game before a 9-0 Gamecocks run knotted things up. Auburn jumped back up by 6 and South Carolina punched back with a 16-2 stretch to go up by 8 points late in the first half.
Auburn leveled things in the second half with 15:34 to play before disaster struck. Following a bucket from South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles with a little under 14 minutes to play, Auburn big man Johni Broome went down grabbing at his left foot.
The All-American had to be helped off the floor by Auburn trainers and was quickly taken to the locker room. He was unable to put any weight on his left foot when leaving the court and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game.
South Carolina led 47-45 at that point.
Without Broom, Tahaad Pettiford stepped up in a major way. He scored 6 straight points for Auburn as the 2 sides went back and forth. Arden Conyers drilled back-to-back triples for South Carolina, which were then matched by triples from Miles Kelly and Jakhi Howard.
A dunk from Dylan Cardwell with 1:32 to play put Auburn up by 1 and South Carolina never got the lead back.
Nick Pringle had a chance to give South Carolina the lead in the final 10 seconds after he was fouled and sent to the free throw line. But he missed both shots from the charity stripe and South Carolina was forced to foul to try and extend the game. Pettiford was sent to the line, where he scored his 14th and 15th points of the afternoon to give Auburn a 3-point lead.
Off a halfcourt heave in the final 4 seconds, South Carolina’s Morris Ugusuk got a clean look on a deep right-wing 3, but he was well short and the clock ran out on the Gamecocks.
Murray-Boyles led the Gamecocks with 25 points and 7 rebounds on 10-of-18 shooting. Conyers scored 13 and Pringle added a 12-point, 10-board double-double.
Pettiford’s 15 points led all Auburn scorers. Kelly added 14 as the only other Tiger to reach double figures. Auburn held South Carolina to 41% shooting and 25% from 3.
Neither team shot well from the foul stripe — Auburn went 6-for-12, South Carolina 9-for-16. South Carolina controlled the boards (37-33) and the paint (42-30) but the foul shooting proved to be its undoing.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
