AUBURN | It took a while but No. 16 Auburn finally found its shooting stroke Wednesday night, and it came off the bench and with authority.

Devan Cambridge sank the Tigers’ first 3-pointer of the game midway through the first half. Then he made a second, a third and a fourth. In between, the true freshman added an emphatic alley-pop dunk to score 14 points in under six minutes and spark Auburn to an 80-67 win over South Carolina.

"We need guys to make shots, and Devan certainly was feeling it," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I have said that, someday, he could be our best player. I've said that. But I talked to him before the game tonight, and I was like, 'what are you waiting for? This team needs you this year. I know what the future could be for you.' Because he's been struggling a little bit, even in practice.

"His confidence, believe it or not, I think, was waning a little bit. None of the coach's confidence, none of the teammates' confidence. But it was kind of time for him to step up a little bit. He picked a pretty good time. So I'm happy for him."

Coming off two-straight losses in which they shot 11 of 51 from 3-point range, the Tigers missed their first six 3-point attempts before making 10 of their final 21 attempts against the Gamecocks.

Cambridge finished with a career-high 26 points in a career-high 21 minutes played. His six made 3-pointers to tie Samir Doughty for the most by an AU player this season.

Cambridge had totaled just 21 points in his previous 12 game combined.

"I loved it. I felt like I couldn’t miss, especially after I banked that one. I was like, ‘Yea, I’m feeling it,'" Cambridge said.

Auburn put the game away with a 14-0 run midway through the second half with Cambridge scoring nine of the points including an emphatic dunk off an offensive rebound.

"Really, the coaches are just telling me I need to go crash the boards every time I can. I just seen it bouncing off and that’s what I like, just dunking it, making energy plays," Cambridge said.

J’Von McCormick added 13 points and five assists. Doughty had all 11 of his points in the second half, adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Isaac Okoro had eight points and a career-high seven assists, and Austin Wiley six points and eight rebounds.

The Tigers, which had 17 assists, improve to 16-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.

Auburn hosts Iowa State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPNU.