South Carolina MBB losing streak grows to three in close loss at Auburn. What we saw

After a difficult two-game stretch for South Carolina men’s basketball — a 75-70 loss to Georgia foiled by a 1-for-9 finish and a 108-74 blowout loss to Arkansas — a trip to Neville Arena to face Auburn probably didn’t bring a sense of relief.

But USC needed a win, and a win was possible.

Auburn, led by first-year coaching heir Steven Pearl, was certainly beatable as it struggled to keep pace with last season’s Final Four Tigers team led by Bruce Pearl. The Gamecocks simply didn’t do enough to make the possible a reality, even with the win within reach in the closing seconds.

USC (10-8, 1-4 SEC) fell to Auburn (11-7, 2-3 SEC) 71-67 on Saturday night. With that, the Gamecocks’ SEC losing streak grows to three straight games as they dig themselves just a bit deeper into the pit of conference play despair.

“We challenged the guys. Almost all the challenges had nothing to do with basketball,” USC coach Lamont Paris told Gamecock Sports Network’s Derek Scott. “We challenged guys to compete in a way that you want to win the game and intentionally do things that make it more likely that your team is going to win the game.”

Despite shooting 25% from the floor in the first half, the Gamecocks went to the locker room down six points. USC couldn’t put it all together in the second half and ultimately fell short to end its two-game road trip.

Here are three things we learned from the game:

Health is wealth

USC hasn’t played with a full healthy roster over the last eight games. The Gamecocks’ Dec. 13 win against The Citadel was the last time they had that privilege. During this period, five USC players — Eli Ellis, Christ Essandoko, Grant Polk, Nordin Kapic and Jordan Butler — have missed time.

All five players listed average eight minutes or more per game this season. Essandoko is a rotating starter, and Ellis averages 27.2 minutes off of the bench. Nearly top-to-bottom, any player missing from the roster depletes USC’s strength while they’re gone.

Ellis was the lone missing Gamecock on Saturday and was seen courtside in a walking boot. He’s out indefinitely with an ankle injury.

The first half of Saturday’s contest had USC missing Ellis. The Gamecocks were forced to disavow the 3-pointer at times to go 1-on-1 with Auburn defenders and attack the rim. Ellis, listed 6-foot-1, has been efficient in the paint even for an undersized guard, and is averaging 9.9 points per game this season.

Hall monitor

If USC had any chance to sneak out of Neville Arena with a win, it was going to depend on how well it could contain Auburn star wing and SEC Player of the Year candidate Keyshawn Hall.

The 6-foot-7 UCF transfer entered Saturday’s contest third in the SEC in points per game (20.9), the fifth-most rebounds per game (7.9) and the Tigers’ highest assists average this year (3.1). In the first half, the Gamecocks decided the best course of action to stop Hall was to simply get him off the court.

Hall was dinged with three personal fouls in the first 10 minutes of the game, forcing Pearl to sit him for the rest of the half after logging two points, one rebound and three turnovers.

Getting hot after Hall’s third foul would’ve been ideal for Paris and his team. Instead, the Gamecocks went 3-for-16 from the floor after Hall’s benching and finished with a 25% field goal percentage and a 16.7% 3-point percentage.

USC also allowed 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting to Hall’s replacement, freshman forward Filip Jovic.

“When your moment comes, you have to be ready to meet those moments,” Paris said. “And we had a couple of guys I just don’t think were ready.”

Hall finished the game with eight points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.

Too little, too late

USC’s shooting improved in the second half — at 53.3% from the floor and 46.2% on 3-pointers — but it wasn’t quite enough. What didn’t improve is USC’s uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting. The Gamecocks entered the game leading the SEC with a 78.7% percentage from the line, and finished 13 for 20 (65%) — the lowest in a game this season.

“When you switch everything like these guys do, oftentimes actions can be denied pretty quickly, and then that that incites guys being stagnant at times. And I think that’s what happened in the first half,” Paris said. “So we talked about moving. We also changed a couple of things up with what we were doing offensively to try to get some movement. It’s forced movement based on the plays that we called. So I think that helped, and then we did a better job of attacking also.”

While Auburn also shot somewhat poorly in the game, particularly on 3-pointers (10.5%), the Tigers won by controlling the game in the paint. Auburn finished in front of USC in paint points (42-62), steals (10-5) and blocks (8-4). The Tigers also committed four fewer turnovers than USC.

USC guard Meechie Johnson finished the game with a solid stat line of 17 points, five rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes. South Carolina made its final five field goals of the game and brought the score within two points, but it was just a bit too little and a bit too late.

“I said, ‘This is the most important game of the year by far. It’s not even close.’ And they looked at me like, ‘What do you mean?’” Paris said. “And I said, ‘Because we are going to decide today who we are as competitors, who we are as a team, as teammates and as a unit.’ We came out and played as if those things did matter to us.”

South Carolina men’s basketball upcoming schedule

• Tuesday: vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Saturday, Jan. 24: at Texas A&M, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Wednesday, Jan. 28: vs. No. 19 Florida, 9 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Saturday, Jan. 31 vs. LSU, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)

This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 8:14 PM.