No. 16 Auburn was held without a field goal over the final four minutes and South Carolina hit a late 3-pointer to earn an 80-77 win Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena.
Jared Harper gave Auburn a 2-point lead with a pair of three throws with 55 second remaining. But Felipe Haase answered with a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Gamecocks up 78-77 with 31 seconds left.
Chuma Okeke’s 3-pointer rimmed out and Danjel Purifoy’s put back wouldn’t fall in the final seconds. Chris Silva grabbed the rebound, made two free throws and the Tigers were unable to get a shot off in the final 2.6 seconds to fall to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in the SEC.
The Gamecocks improve to 10-8 and 5-1.
"In the second half, I just think it was just like that grit and toughness, the will to win, a little bit of experience," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "They’re not a great 3-point shooting team but the big kid, Haase, hit the one in the corner. We came off the strong-strong-side corner and he knocked it in. That was a big play."
Silva was too much for Auburn to handle inside as the Tigers were without starting center Austin Wiley for a second-straight game due to an injury, and both Anfernee McLemore and Horace Spencer were in foul trouble for most of the game before fouling out on back-to-back plays with 7:46 left in the second half.
Silva finished with 32 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.
"He was dominating in there," Pearl said. "You can point to Anfernee and Horace and put it all on them, that was the matchup, but it’s a team effort. Didn’t have enough pressure on the basketball.
"It’s amazing how much they allow him to do. He goes to the free throw line second-most of any player in the country. It’s really difficult. It’s really difficult."
South Carolina led by 10 points with 6:34 remaining before the Tigers went on a 12-0 run to take a 73-71 lead with 4:01 remaining.
Harper and Brown led the Tigers with 17 points apiece while Chuma Okeke added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Auburn is back in action Saturday at No. 22 Mississippi State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jared Harper scored his 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He added four rebounds, five assists and had just two turnovers in 37 minutes of play.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Bryce Brown and Chuma Okeke made back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the 12-0 run late in the second half. Unfortunately, those were Auburn’s last two field goals of the game.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Auburn missed its first nine 3-point field goals of the game and finished 7-of-25 from beyond the arc.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: Pearl on the game: "We’ve got to make shots. We were 7-of-25 from 3. And of the misses that we had, they were good looks. Chuma’s got to make more than 1-for-4, Jared’s got to make more than 1-for-6, Bryce has got to make more than 3-for-8. They got good looks and those are shots we make, we win. On the defensive end -- more physical. We got out-rebounded again. Proud of the team -- they battled, they competed. A lesser character team would’ve got run up out of here."
