AU HOOPS: Sloppy second half dooms Tigers

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Auburn knew the press was coming. It was only a matter of time before South Carolina and its three speedy guards amped up the pressure against the similar, yet slightly more fatigued, Tigers.

Sometimes even the most intuitive foresight isn’t enough to prevent a miniature meltdown.

The Tigers went into halftime Saturday night already showing signs of sluggishness and came back totally flat. The Gamecocks seized control instantaneously with a commanding run and coasted from there in a 68-56, conference-opening victory over Auburn in front of 11,725 fans at the Colonial Life Arena.

Trailing by just 2 points, Auburn turned the ball over eight times, committed five fouls and made just 2-of-8 shots during an eight-minute stretch to start the second half. The Gamecocks capitalized with a 21-4 run to snap the Tigers’ seven-game winning streak.

Auburn finished with a season-high 24 turnovers, all but eliminating the benefits of the 18 turnovers it forced from the Gamecocks.

“Some were forced, some were unforced, some were lazy passes across the court you can’t throw,” coach Jeff Lebo said. “Way too many for us.

“Obviously, 24 turnovers on the road isn’t going to be good enough.”

South Carolina (12-2, 1-0 SEC) was simply too much for Auburn (10-5, 0-1) during a high-energy, but sloppy, second half.

While the Gamecocks came out warm from their strong end to the first half, Auburn played completely frazzled. South Carolina’s full-court press, followed by its subsequent man-to-man defense, disturbed the Tigers into a number of errant passes, bad fouls and botched layups.

Those slipups quickly turned into visible frustration on the faces’ of Auburn’s players.

After a botched fastbreak opportunity, Lucas Hargrove yelled supportively toward Quantez Robertson after one of his passes flew into the South Carolina student section. Minutes later, during the first media timeout, Robertson and Hargrove engaged in a shouting match before assistant coach John Cooper separated them.

Both returned to the floor, but it was more of the same frustrating play for Lebo to digest, as the Gamecocks’ lead grew to as many as 17 points.

“We knew they were going to press us,” guard DeWayne Reed said. “We just tried to get good passes.”

Auburn made a strong presence early by taking a 6-point lead deep into the first half, thanks largely to cold shooting from the Gamecocks and a strong presence on the boards from Korvotney Barber. Barber finished with a career-high 18 rebounds, the bulk of which coming in the first 20 minutes.

Fatigue was apparent on the faces of most Auburn players, but none more than Barber, who was down a backup. Reserve center Johnnie Lett did not make the trip to South Carolina and his status for the remainder of the season is uncertain because of academic issues.

“That’s a big loss,” Barber said. “I’m kind of used to playing a lot of minutes, but we need him to rebound and block shots. “

Though the Tigers put the clamps on South Carolina’s star guard Devan Downey, Zam Fredrick was able to knock down a number of open looks early in the second half on his way to a game-high 27 points. Reed countered with an Auburn-high 21.

“That five-minute stretch in the second half, Zam Fredrick just beat us off the dribble,” Lebo said. “He was the difference in the game.”

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