No. 5 Auburn tops South Carolina 82-71 to win SEC outright

Updated Mar. 5, 2022 3:26 p.m. ET

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AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Jabari Smith scored 21 points, K.D. Johnson had 18 and No. 5 Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title with an 82-71 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

The Tigers (27-4, 15-3 SEC) secured the No. 1 seed for next week's league tournament in Tampa, Florida, after entering the day one game up on No. 7 Kentucky, No. 13 Tennessee and No. 14 Arkansas.

No tiebreakers needed, though the Gameocks (18-12, 9-9) did rally after trailing by 19 early in the second half.

Auburn players celebrated on the court amid a flurry of orange and blue confetti. The team held at least a share of the SEC lead all season.

Smith made 3 of 3 3-pointers and is 21 of 37 over the last six games, when he's averaging 25 points. Kessler scored 11 and Wendell Green 10 for the Tigers. Kessler played his second straight game with a brace on his left shoulder from an injury sustained last weekend against Tennessee.

All four are in their first season with the Tigers.

Jermaine Couisnard led South Carolina with 22 points, including 16 in the second half. James Reese V scored 18 and Erik Stevenson added 13 points and eight rebounds.

It's the Tigers' fourth regular season SEC title, joining Pearl's 2018 team and the 1960 and 1999 teams.

Auburn would have been the No. 2 seed in Tampa with a loss because of head-to-head records among the four teams still in contention entering Saturday.

The Tigers closed the first half on a 24-9 tear to take a 48-31 lead into halftime. Smith scored all 15 of his first-half points in the final 11 minutes after South Carolina pulled to within two.

Auburn pushed the lead to 19 coming out of the locker room, but South Carolina cut it to 78-71 with 1:16 left on Couisnard's second straight layup.

The Tigers made 4 of 6 free throws from there.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina came out sloppy with five turnovers in the first four minutes, including a couple of errant passes. The Gameocks took six minutes to make their first field goal and turned it over 16 times.

Auburn won its program-record 15th SEC game and finished undefeated at home (15-0) for the first time since 1998-99.

NEW NAME

Auburn Arena officially became Neville Arena Saturday. The name change followed the single largest gift to Auburn's athletics program from Bill and Connie Neville. The couple were recognized on court during the first time out.

UP NEXT

Both teams head to Tampa for the SEC Tournament.

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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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