The men's basketball team continues the hunt for its first SEC victory of the season on the road at South Carolina Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers had two close games this week, one at home against Alabama and another on the road at Arkansas.
Both games were a challenge for the team, and though Auburn posed comebacks in both, the deficits were too great to overcome.
Head coach Tony Barbee said his team struggled shooting against Arkansas.
"I told the kids to keep fighting, keep fighting," Barbee said. "It is a game of runs and our run is coming. We played well enough on the road. We just can't have these lapses."
Auburn is now 0-6 in SEC play and heading to South Carolina to battle the Gamecocks, who are also coming off an SEC loss.
The Gamecocks (12-6, 3-2 SEC) lost to Kentucky at home Saturday, but beat Arkansas three days before in overtime.
Bruce Ellington, freshman guard for the Gamecocks, averages 30.4 points per game and was a four-star prospect coming out of high school.
Another leader for the Gamecocks is senior forward Sam Muldrow.
Muldrow averages 27.8 points per game and shoots 72.5 percent from the free-throw line, which is the highest on the team.
South Carolina has been moderately successful in SEC action, beating Florida and Arkansas in consecutive games.
Auburn has struggled to find its first SEC win, but consistently plays well under pressure.
Auburn scored 31 points in the first 32 minutes of play against Arkansas Tuesday, but managed to score 33 points in the final eight minutes.
"I told them that you can't get down just because the shots aren't going in," Barbee said. "We had good looks in the first 10 minutes (of the second half). We got it to the rim, and I don't know how many layups we missed and some wide open jump shots. We pounded the ball into the post and couldn't get any production."
Auburn fought for every point it got Tuesday, but only managed to make 31 percent of its shots in the second half.
In the Gamecocks' last game, leading scorer Ellington was only able to play eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and was held to eight points.
South Carolina coach Darrin Horn said it's difficult to rally when you fall as far behind as the Gamecocks did.
"Our kids fought and gave us a chance to win at the end, but the game started with a bad tone and a bad mood so it was tough to overcome that," Horn said.
Saturday's game will be held in Columbia, S.C., is slated for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off and will be televised by the SEC Network.
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