Auburn had the home-court advantage.

Auburn had the better record.

Auburn had the bigger lineup.

But Auburn didn’t have Devan Downey. And that was the difference Saturday.

Downey, South Carolina’s star sophomore guard, led the Gamecocks to a 69-63 win at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.

The 5-foot-9 Downey had 21 points and six assists to lead USC.

“Downey controlled the game,” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. “He’s outstanding.”

Auburn (14-13, 4-10 Southeastern Conference) led by as many as 12 in the first half. But the Tigers appeared to run out of steam.

Lebo said he was worried about his team’s mindset before the game even started.

“I told them, I know what you’re thinking when you look at South Carolina and you look at their record,” Lebo said. “You can feel it with their body language.

“I didn’t think practices were very good these last couple days. We just didn’t handle ourselves as well as we needed to these last couple of days.”

Point guard Quantez Robertson, who played 39 minutes, disagreed.

“Coach, he can say what he thought,” Robertson said. “I know most of us, inside, we didn’t come out to play like that.

“They just made some plays on offense and defense, and they played a lot smarter than us. And they got the ‘W.’”

The loss drops Auburn into a tie with Alabama for last place in the SEC’s Western Division.

South Carolina (13-15, 4-10 SEC) outscored AU, 20-7, in an eight-minute span that stretched across halftime. The Gamecocks took the lead on a Dominique Archie layup with 18:06 to play in the second half and never trailed again.

A slew of Auburn turnovers helped USC extend its lead to as many as 14 points in the second half.

USC coach Dave Odom thought AU’s players looked tired. The Gamecocks responded by increasing their pace, trusting the quick feet of Downey and backcourt mate Zam Frederick.

“I got the sense toward the end of the first half that Auburn was tiring a little bit,” Odom said. “It’s no secret: They play games with six players.

“I felt like if we kept pushing the basketball, if we made shots and began to defend them a little bit, fatigue would play a factor in our favor. I think it did.”

But AU wasn’t finished.

A 3-point play by Frank Tolbert with 1:13 to play capped a 12-2 Auburn run that cut USC’s lead to 64-61. Downey hit one of two free throws on South Carolina’s ensuing possession.

Trailing 65-61 with 45 seconds left, Auburn missed two jump shots before USC’s Dwayne Day corralled the rebound. Day hit two free throws to extend the Gamecocks’ lead to 6 points. After a Tolbert layup, Brandis Raley-Ross hit two more free throws for the final margin.

Tolbert finished with 20 points to lead AU.

AU hosts Georgia — the last-place team in the SEC East — on Wednesday.

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