Top 10 toppled: Gamecocks knock off SEC-leading Auburn
Sindarius Thornwell had a courtside seat, but he barely used it. He paced as much as the space allowed. He barked encouragement, clapped his hands and pumped his fists.
It was gameday at Colonial Life Arena and South Carolina looked like a complete basketball team again. The Gamecocks had guards hitting shots, bigs dominating the paint and a legend taking it all in from the sideline.
Columbia’s finest artist couldn’t have painted a more perfect scene Saturday as USC snapped a six-game losing streak with a shocking 84-75 upset of No. 10 Auburn.
Carolina’s 2018 “Legends Weekend” brought back the program’s most recent heroes. Thornwell, on break from his NBA responsibilities, came to USC’s practice Friday. He was joined by P.J. Dozier and Duane Notice. Coach Frank Martin put that trio, still fresh with Final Four glow, on his scout team.
“That’s who we were trying to guard,” Martin said.
The old faces weren’t happy with the 2017-18 Gamecocks as of Friday night. They’ve been watching the losing, too. “They were pissed at us,” said junior forward Chris Silva.
By Saturday afternoon, though, Thornwell was just as excited for a thunderous Silva dunk as the 6-foot-9, 223-pounder doing the rim-bending.
“They brought so much intensity and enthusiasm into the practice,” said senior guard Frank Booker. “Losing six straight, that hurts. So we’re trying to find energy from somewhere -- and here they come.”
Silva heard Thornwell’s shouts from the sideline. Whether it was when the Gamecocks were up 26 in the first half or when they had their lead whittled down to five with 6:58 left in the second half.
“Today, during the game, that was probably the only person I was seeing,” said Silva, who notched his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. “It was good to have those guys back. … They brought some leadership back.”
USC (14-13, 5-9 SEC) gave them – and the rest of the crowd of 14,995 – a heck of a show.
The Gamecocks went on an electrifying 21-1 run in the first half and then closed the game by making their final nine free throws.
Booker, who led all scorers with 19 points, went 4 of 4 from the line in the final 23 seconds. This is South Carolina’s first home win over a Top 10 opponent since taking down No. 1 Kentucky on Jan. 26, 2010.
“We got to embrace this moment,” Martin said. “The last six games have been difficult. Hopefully we can embrace this moment and feel good. We’ll worry about Georgia on Monday. Those kids deserve the opportunity to just feel good about being a good team today.”
The Bulldogs come to CLA on Wednesday. The Tigers (23-4, 11-3) left Saturday like Kentucky did just under a month ago – a ranked team that fell to USC.
Auburn’s high-scoring guard trio of Bryce Brown, Mustapha Heron and Jared Harper combined to make eight shots on 36 attempts.
“Give Frank Martin and South Carolina a lot of credit,” said Tigers coach Bruce Pearl. “I told Frank after the game he’s got my number. This is back to back slap-arounds, so obviously he’s got some things figured about what we do and how to stop us.
“We struggled to score. I don’t know if it’s a blueprint for other teams, but their over-play (defense) bothered us and disrupted our timing and things like that. Give those guys a lot of credit. … Who can’t South Carolina beat in this league? They beat us, they beat Florida, they beat Kentucky.”
Auburn went down to eight available players when starting forward Anfernee McLemore suffered a gruesome injury late in the first half. The Gamecocks meanwhile got 43 bench points, including 13 from Wes Myers and six from Jason Cudd.
The Tigers, who had only lost once since Jan. 20, made things competitive in the second half with a scrappy effort on the offensive glass. Martin addressed this issue during a late timeout.
“At one time it was like six offensive rebounds in four minutes,” Booker said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds. That’s what pretty much got them back in the game.
“(Martin) made sure we didn’t stop fighting on the boards and just put a little more effort into getting a rebound.”
Clinging to an eight-point lead with five minutes left, Carolina grabbed two offensive rebounds of its own. The possession ended with a Myers free throw.
Message received.
“That was fun,” Martin said. “I live for moments like that.”
Shortly after Saturday’s game, Silva posted a photo to his Instagram account. He was joined by Thornwell, Dozier, Notice and Justin McKie. “One for my guys!” read the caption.
“They didn’t come here to hate on our players,” Martin said Friday. “They came here to help lead because they know that’s been a problem with this team. And they led by sharing their voices, their views, their ideas, their passion. … So it was great to have them around.”
AUBURN (23-4): Murray 3-6 1-1 7, McLemore 0-2 1-2 1, Brown 3-16 2-2 10, Harper 2-8 8-10 13, Heron 3-12 10-11 16, Spencer 2-4 2-2 6, Okeke 4-9 2-5 11, Mitchell 2-4 2-3 6, Dunbar 1-2 2-2 5. Totals 20-63 30-38 75.
SOUTH CAROLINA (14-13): Silva 3-6 8-9 14, Minaya 4-7 0-0 8, Kotsar 3-10 2-4 8, Hinson 1-4 0-1 2, Gravett 3-5 2-2 9, Cudd 2-2 2-2 6, Haase 1-4 3-4 5, Booker 5-11 5-7 19, Myers 3-9 6-8 13. Totals 25-58 28-37 84.
Halftime—South Carolina 46-25. 3-Point Goals—Auburn 5-27 (Brown 2-13, Dunbar 1-1, Harper 1-4, Okeke 1-4, Murray 0-1, Mitchell 0-1, McLemore 0-1, Heron 0-2), South Carolina 6-19 (Booker 4-9, Gravett 1-1, Myers 1-2, Hinson 0-1, Minaya 0-3, Haase 0-3). Fouled Out—Myers, Harper, Spencer. Rebounds—Auburn 40 (Okeke 9), South Carolina 35 (Silva 11). Assists—Auburn 8 (Okeke 2), South Carolina 13 (Booker, Gravett 3). Total Fouls—Auburn 28, South Carolina 29. A—14,995 (18,000).
This story was originally published February 17, 2018 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Top 10 toppled: Gamecocks knock off SEC-leading Auburn."