Tigers defeat Carolina for first SEC win of season
Its arc was crisp and on target, but as it hit the rim, it spun around and then out into the hands of a defender.
Such was the day for South Carolina, which seemed to miss nearly every shot en route to a disappointing 79-64 home loss to lowly Auburn.
"We just did not play South Carolina basketball today at all," coach Darrin Horn said.
USC shot 34.3 percent from the floor and especially struggled from 3-point range, making only seven of 33 attempts. It was outrebounded by 12, despite entering the game as the SEC's best team on the glass and Auburn being one of the league's worst. Carolina also went to the free-throw line eight times fewer than the Tigers.
It all added up into an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the league's worst team.
"It's hard, especially with a young team, to go through the losses we've had while playing as well as we had," Auburn coach Tony Barbee said. "We had to keep them upbeat and positive."
Auburn entered the game winless in SEC play and six games under .500 overall. They were dead last in scoring and near the bottom of the league in rebounding. They lost to Presbyterian and Samford earlier in the season. Some experts concluded the Tigers may be the worst major-conference team ever.
The Tigers didn't look like it on Saturday, breaking the 70-point plateau for the first time since a Dec. 29 overtime win over Georgia Southern. AU was led by sophomore center Rob Chubb, who had a career-high 18 points. Chubb came into the game averaging 7.6 points a game. His effort led the dominating inside performance for the Tigers, who outscored USC 42-20 in the paint.
"We were not moving our feet today," USC center Sam Muldrow said. "We need to play good post defense and we have to box out."
Auburn (8-13, 1-6) led by five points at halftime. When the Tigers came out of the break, they dominated the final 20 minutes of play. USC (12-7, 3-3) kept within striking distance and shaved what was an 11-point deficit back down to five with 10 minutes left in the game, but the Tigers didn't falter down the stretch, leading by as many as 16 en route to the win.
The loss was the second straight for the Gamecocks after a 3-1 start to SEC play. USC will take the losing streak on the road now with games at LSU and Vanderbilt. Horn said he's more concerned about the state of his team than leaving Columbia.
"I'm not really worried about our games coming up. We'll be fine," Horn said. "I am more worried about our team being focused on the things that they need to be focused on.
"We had the expectation that there would be some bumps in the road with a young team, and it looked like it tonight. We are going to find out a lot about them coming up here."