How No. 11 Gamecocks will move forward: Chalk up blowout loss to Auburn as ‘anomaly’
There’s no need to panic. One game won’t change much, if anything, about the trajectory of the South Carolina basketball team’s season.
That was the sentiment from the Gamecocks on Wednesday night after No. 11 South Carolina’s 101-61 blowout loss to No. 13 Auburn at Neville Arena.
The seven-game win streak South Carolina (21-4, 9-3 SEC) started mid-January is over, but the Gamecocks are well aware of what’s still at stake this season.
USC is tied for second in the SEC standings and would be the No. 3 seed if the conference tournament started right now. The top four teams automatically advance into the tournament quarterfinals on March 15. And they’re still trending toward their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years.
Head coach Lamont Paris’ outlook on this season hasn’t changed. In fact, he called the loss at Auburn an “anomaly.”
“It’s almost better that it turned out that way,” Paris said, “because turning the page on what I’ll be able to sell to them as an anomaly. Not in that we lost, certainly. But in that it turned out like that, right? I think it’d be easier for them to get on to the next practice. You know, stuff happens. Sometimes you get the bull, sometimes the bull gets you.”
There’s been a lot of talk surrounding the men’s basketball program over the last few days: reaching The Associated Press top 15, Collin Murray-Boyles earning his first SEC Freshman of the Week honors, rumors swirling about contract extensions and a vacant coaching position in Ohio State.
South Carolina, at least publicly, is focused on winning games and adding to their historic season.
“We’re in position to still do a lot of great things that haven’t been done in Columbia in a long time,” Meechie Johnson said. “And honestly, we also know we’ve got a chance to make something happen in March.”
Does it make the loss hurt any less? Not really. But there are seven more games in the regular season, and the Gamecocks are determined to keep the loss at Neville Arena an anomaly in their season’s story.
“We had lost to Alabama pretty similarly, and now we’re here,” Johnson said. “Look at all the success we’ve had. So there’s nothing we really can’t bounce back from.”
No team has beaten Auburn in its home arena in 16 games, going back into last season. The Tigers were 12-for-20 from 3-point range, a whopping 60%, and scored 25 points off turnovers. Every single thing Auburn needed to do, it did. Neville Arena isn’t a friendly environment to strangers. While USC has succeeded against other SEC programs on the road, the mixture the Tigers had was too much.
Maybe in another environment, it wouldn’t have been a 40-point defeat. Maybe on a different day, South Carolina would’ve shot better than 20% from behind the arc. The combination of the Gamecocks’ struggles plus the Tigers’ success was perfect for the 101-61 defeat.
“We have to flush it and move on losing like this,” BJ Mack said. “It just wasn’t our night overall.”
It’s been a month since South Carolina last dealt with a loss. The Gamecocks were playing well, but the winning streak was going to end at some point. Losing at Auburn might sting, but it’s not a worst-case scenario loss.
“I mean, they’re a great team,” Johnson said. “They just lost ... to Florida and they come in here and do this to us. So we know that this is a long season. We understand that you have to stay together.”
The Gamecocks made it clear to each other of priority No. 1 upon leaving the visiting locker room Wednesday: They’re going to move on. Hosting LSU at Colonial Life Arena on Saturday is the first step.
They’ll forget about the number of eyes watching the program, or the pings of frustration after seeing the Tigers go on another 8-0 scoring run. They know what’s still on the table, and it’s within their grasp.
If anyone decides to write them off, South Carolina is focused on picking itself right back up.
“Just like Alabama, we have to continue to have our validation in this league,” Mack said. “People are still counting us out now still.”
Next four games
- Saturday vs. LSU, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 24 at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 28 at Texas A&M, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- March 2 vs. Florida, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 15, 2024 at 10:13 AM.
