COLUMBIA, S.C. _ Sindarius Thornwell had a courtside seat, but he barely used it. He paced as much as the space allowed. He barked encouragement, clapped his hands and pumped his fists.
It was gameday at Colonial Life Arena and South Carolina looked like a complete basketball team again. The Gamecocks had guards hitting shots, bigs dominating the paint and a legend taking it all in from the sideline.
Columbia's finest artist couldn't have painted a more perfect scene Saturday as South Carolina snapped a six-game losing streak with a shocking 84-75 upset of No. 10 Auburn.
Carolina's 2018 "Legends Weekend" brought back the program's most recent heroes. Thornwell, on break from his NBA responsibilities, came to South Caolina's practice Friday. He was joined by P.J. Dozier and Duane Notice. Coach Frank Martin put that trio, still fresh with Final Four glow, on his scout team.
"That's who we were trying to guard," Martin said.
The old faces weren't happy with the 2017-18 Gamecocks as of Friday night. They've been watching the losing, too. By Saturday afternoon, though, Thornwell was just as excited for a thunderous Chris Silva dunk as the 6-foot-9, 223-pound forward doing the rim-bending.
South Carolina (14-13, 5-9 SEC) led by as many as 26 points Saturday. It went on an electric 21-1 run in the first half that whipped CLA into a frenzy.
The Tigers (23-4, 11-3) are the SEC frontrunners for a reason, however. After Frank Booker's 3-pointer with 15:58 left that put Carolina ahead by 20, Auburn responded with a 7-0 spurt. It whittled the advantage to five with 6:58 left as the Gamecocks went into an all-too-familiar offensive rut.
With the lead cut to six with 49 seconds remaining, Silva banged his way for an "And-1" jumper in the lane. He hit the ensuing free throw. The junior finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
South Carolina made all seven of its free throw attempts in the final 49 seconds, including four from Booker. The senior led the Gamecocks with 19 points.
This is South Carolina's first home win over a Top 10 opponent since taking down No. 1 Kentucky on Jan. 26, 2010. The Gamecocks next host Georgia on Wednesday.
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