Auburn's 26-point comeback effort falls short at South Carolina

Auburn nearly mounted the largest comeback in program history but came up short on the road at South Carolina.

The 10^th-ranked Tigers fell to the Gamecocks, 84-75, at Colonial Life Arena following a furious second-half comeback effort after trailing by as many as 26 in the first half.

Auburn (23-4, 11-3 SEC) trailed by 21 at halftime after the team's worst half of play of the season. The Tigers shot just 21 percent from the field, went 1-for-11 from beyond the arc and committed nine turnovers -- including six by Jared Harper, who finished with a career-worst nine turnovers -- in the game's opening 20 minutes as Bruce Pearl's team struggled to find any sort of rhythm offensively.

Making matters worse, Auburn lost forward Anfernee McLemore with 1:23 to play in the first half after the sophomore dislocated his left ankle and was taken to a nearby hospital for X-rays.

McLemore's injury visibly shook Auburn's roster, but the Tigers attempted to rally around their injured teammate in the second half.

Rewinding Auburn's 84-75 loss to South Carolina

Auburn chipped away at South Carolina's lead, getting to within five with 6:58 to play on a pair of free throws from Bryce Brown, who helped the Tigers get to that point with two made 3-pointers after starting 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. The Tigers seemingly ran out of gas after getting to that point, going 4:22 before their next basket as the Gamecocks (14-13, 5-9) pushed their lead back to 12 with 2:47 to go.

Auburn's rally was fueled on the glass, as the Tigers outrebounded South Carolina, 30-17, in the second half and at one point held a 20-0 advantage in second-chance points after halftime thanks to 15 offensive rebounds -- including four each from Chuma Okeke and Desean Murray, who stepped up in McLemore's absence.

Auburn made one last push in the final two minutes, getting to within eight with 1:33 to go when Harper got fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down all three free throws. Harper then stole the ball and got an uncontested layup to cut the lead to six with 1:25 to play.

South Carolina's Chris Silva answered with a 3-point play on the other end, converting a basket in the paint plus the free throw to put the Gamecocks back up nine to put the game out of reach.

Auburn got within seven twice in the final 24 seconds, but South Carolina hit its free throws to ice the game and snap a six-game losing streak.

AL.com will update this post.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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