Head coach Jeff Lebo: unhappy with his team’s play against South Carolina Saturday night. Pete Riley / PHOTO EDITOR
The Tigers’ sloppy play and poor outside shooting proved too much to overcome in its 69-63 loss to South Carolina (13-15, 5-9) at home Saturday night.
Auburn (14-13, 4-10) fourth-year head coach Jeff Lebo told reporters he saw the loss coming, pointing out the mood in the locker room before tipoff.
“I knew it was coming,” Lebo said. “I told them before the game. I saw it coming, and we just weren’t mature enough as a team. These are the ones you need to handle. I know what players think and I thought maybe we could gut this one out, but we shot the ball so poorly.”
Quantez Robertson and Frank Tolbert didn’t agree with the coach’s assessment after the game, but shooting under 40 percent from the field and 15 turnovers spoke for itself.
“We know that we couldn’t come in lackadaisical, but at some point in the game, we fell off a little bit,” Tolbert said.
Despite 11 turnovers in the first half, Auburn was able to hold the lead heading into the third quarter after South Carolina came out cold, shooting 1-10 from beyond the arc in the first half.
The Gamecocks’ poor shooting improved in the second half as they shot more than 50 percent from the field.
“They made some good plays on offense and defense,” Robertson said. “They played a lot smarter than we did, and they got the W.”
South Carolina’s Devan Downey gave Auburn fits all game, as he led the Gamecocks in scoring with 21 points.
The 5-foot-9 point guard torched the Tigers with five steals and distributed the ball to teammates with six assists.
“Downey controlled the game,” Lebo said. “He was outstanding.”
Downey leads the Gamecocks in points, assists and steals.
“He’s coming off ball screens and getting good looks, and he can get into the paint,” Robertson said. “It’s tough to guard him because you don’t know if he’s going to drive or shoot the three.”
Auburn’s guard play didn’t measure up to that of South Carolina’s in the open court. DeWayne Reed and Robertson combined for eight turnovers and only six points.
Reed failed to score a bucket the length of the game, going 0-5 from the field in 27 minutes of play.
Tolbert led the Tigers with 21 points on 6-15 shooting in 29 minutes.
Auburn’s lone big man on the floor for most of the game, Quan Prowell, led all players with 12 rebounds finishing with a double-double.
What Robertson called a mirror image of the Tigers, South Carolina was outrebounded but attacked the basket and got to the line more than Auburn.
Auburn consistently settled for jump shots throughout the game, failing to go to the free throw line the entire first half.
On the other side of the court, the Gamecocks got to the line 17 times in the game, chipping in 12 points from the charity stripe.
Auburn travels to Fayettville, Ark., to take on the Razorbacks Saturday at 2 p.m. to close out the regular season.
The SEC Tournament begins next Thursday in Atlanta.
