An unexpected shower of three-pointers made Auburn's trip to the Georgia Dome for the SEC Tournament a brief one.
South Carolina buried the Tigers under a barrage of 3-pointers, with many coming from unlikely sources, to defeat Auburn 74-56 in the opening game of the 2014 SEC Tournament.
The Gamecocks (13-19, 5-13 SEC), who entered the game shooting just 37 percent from deep on average, shot 73 percent (11-of-15) from behind the arc and raced away from the Tigers (14-16, 6-12 SEC), who scored just two more points than their season-low.
"It's hard to overcome the shooting effort that we had, and then give them credit for a team that hasn't shot particularly well from three all year long, they made 11-of-15 in this game," said head coach Tony Barbee.
Freshman guard Duane Notice, who shot just 30 percent from three during the regular season, was 4-of-4 from behind the arc on his way to a career high 23 points off the bench.
Notice, who made just one 3-pointer in South Carolina's two previous losses to the Tigers, outplayed Auburn's scouting report, according to senior forward Allen Payne.
"Our scouting report on him was that he was a driver, but he got hot and was able to make some shots from the perimeter," Payne said.
In support of Notice, senior Brenton Williams, who shot three pointers at a 43 percent clip in the regular season, also splashed four three pointers on his way to a 16-point outing.
"They're not a particularly good3-point shooting team outside of Williams, but obviously Notice stepped up and the four threes were big for him," Barbee said. "Give those guys credit off the bench."
Auburn's leading scorer Chris Denson, who finished the regular season second in the SEC in scoring, was unable to find enough space to operate against the Gamecock defense.
The senior guard finished with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting in his final collegiate game.
"They definitely clogged the paint more this game," Denson said. "They were able to take my driving lanes away, and that's on me, KT and Tahj. We weren't explosive tonight and they made us shoot from the outside."
The Gamecocks' shooters weren't the only problems for Auburn on Wednesday night.
The Tigers were outrebounded 39-25, including 17-8 on the offensive glass, and allowed South Carolina to score 22 second chance points.
"Obviously, you don't want to ever give up 17 offensive rebounds," Barbee said. "When you look at it, I don't think their first shot offense beat us this game. It was the 17 offensive rebounds they collected that was big in this game."
In addition to the discrepancy on the glass, Auburn's bench was outscored 34-9, with Notice's 23 points accounting for a large portion of that total.
Auburn's second leading scorer KT Harrell was the only other Tiger to reach double digit points, but his 13 points came on just 4-of-13 shooting.
True freshman point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen ended the season with one of the worst performances of his career, a 4 point outing on just 1-of-10 shooting.
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