Published Jan 4, 2022
Three takeaways from Auburn's win over South Carolina
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Christian Clemente  •  AuburnSports
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Auburn used a strong first half to cruise to an 81-66 win over South Carolina on Tuesday, marking the 10th straight win.

The win came behind a big performance from Wendell Green Jr. and the rest of the Auburn bench, which combined for 40 points.

Takeaways from Auburn's win over South Carolina:

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Big game from the bench

Auburn's bench came out firing on Tuesday. Wendell Green Jr. put up 22 points (more on him in a little bit) and the rest of the bench all chipped in to combine for 40 bench points.

Outside of Green, the bench had gone quiet in recent games. But on Tuesday they came alive.

Dylan Cardwell got a couple of key steals in the first half and finished with five points and three steals. Chris Moore had five points and four rebounds. He doesn't always appear in the statsheet but his effort and energy are visibly noticeable. Jaylin Williams had six points.

Everyone coming off the bench came up and made plays at times to help lead Auburn to a double-digit road win.

Courage, swagger and confidence from Wendell Green Jr.

Wendell Green Jr. deserved his own bullet point and takeaway. He was fantastic for Auburn in Columbia, finishing with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists.

He's found his groove recently and scored in double-digits in six-straight games now, becoming a big contributor off the bench. While he's coming off the bench as the sixth man, he's essentially been a sixth starter and closed out games for Auburn.

"Wendell, he's handled the change in the rotation. Rather than starting games, he's finishing games and I think he'd rather be out there at the end than the beginning," Bruce Pearl said.

His passing, scoring and defense have all improved massively from game one to now, and even from just a few weeks ago. He's growing and getting better and that's a scary sight for the rest of the SEC.

Off nights from Jabari Smith and K.D. Johnson not a problem

Two of Auburn's stars were uncharacteristically quiet on Tuesday night, with Jabari Smith scoring 10 points and turning the ball over four times and K.D. Johnson scoring just two points and having three turnovers.

Well, even when two of Auburn's best players go quiet, the rest step up and can make do.

"You know, it's what we always talk about — we have several guys who can go for however many points every night," Green said. "It's not just one guy that we're relying on. Our depth is crazy. We've got 11 guys, 11 guys who can do it. I feel like that's what makes this something special."

The depth of this team is big, especially when some players have an off night and that was on full display Tuesday.