AUBURN – The No. 11 Auburn Tigers (20-5, 9-3 SEC) picked up a 101-61 win over the No. 13 South Carolina Gamecocks (21-4, 9-3 SEC) at home inside Neville Arena on Wednesday night.
"We turned them over, we were aggressive and we made plenty of offense out of our defense," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "We complement South Carolina."
Auburn was on a mission to get back on track after losing to Florida on the road on Saturday. It took a few minutes for the Tigers to get going, but an 18-3 run in the first half put them in control, and they never gave it back.
What are the biggest takeaways from the game?
Auburn's first half was one of its best halves of the season
Auburn outscored South Carolina 50-28 in the first half.
The Tigers shot 63.3% from the field, 63.6% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. The Tigers had 14 assists to the Gamecocks' four.
If Auburn can put together more halves like that, it will be in a good position to make a run come March.
Auburn shot the lights out
After struggling to put the ball through the net against Florida, Auburn responded in a big way on Wednesday night.
The Tigers shot 36-59 or 61% from the field and 12-20 or 60% from 3-point range.
South Carolina has one of the best defenses in the SEC, but that was not the case in this game. Auburn had no difficulty putting points on the board.
Jaylin Williams had a bounce-back game
After struggling against Florida, Auburn's veteran forward put together a solid performance against the Gamecocks.
Williams led Auburn in scoring with 23 points, had two rebounds, one assist and two steals.
Additionally, he shot 8-11 from the floor and 5-7 from beyond the arc.
Williams is an important part of this team. Auburn's level of play is elevated when he is on.
Auburn lost the rebounding battle
Despite Auburn winning the game in convincing fashion, South Carolina won the rebounding battle. Both sides had the same number of total rebounds, 29, but the Gamecocks out rebounded the Tigers 11-5 on the offensive side.
South Carolina had (INSERT) second-chance points to Auburn's 13-5.
Rebounding has been a weakness for Auburn at times this season and tonight was one of them.
Auburn took care of the ball
After making a significant amount of mental errors over its last couple of games, Auburn cleaned up its play on Wednesday.
The Tigers only turned the ball over seven times, leading to eight points for South Carolina. On the other hand, South Carolina turned the ball over 13 times, leading to 25 points for the Tigers.
Making good decisions with the ball is one of the most important things this Auburn team can do to put itself in a position to win.
Auburn returns to action on Saturday when it hosts "College GameDay" and the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats at Neville Arena at 5 p.m. CT. The television broadcast can be found on ESPN, and the Auburn Sports Network broadcast can be streamed anywhere on the Auburn Athletics app.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.locke@1819news.com.
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