National Basketball Association
Auburn 52, South Florida 40
When: 9:30 PM ET, Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, Alabama
Officials:
# Karl Hess, # Jamie Luckie, # Doug Sirmons
Attendance:
4436
By SportsDirect Inc.
Chris Denson and Frankie Sullivan each scored a game-high 12 points as Auburn matched its best start in seven seasons with a 52-40 victory over visiting South Florida on Wednesday.
Kenny Gabriel, Auburn's second-leading scorer, finished with seven points and eight rebounds as the Tigers (5-1) pulled away late in the second half to improve to 5-0 at home.
Auburn led 21-20 at halftime, but opened the second half with a 10-4 run. The Tigers extended the lead to 45-32 with 6:51 left on Denson’s jumper.
The Bulls (6-5) couldn’t pull any closer than 10 the rest of the way.
The Tigers, who have yet to allow an opponent to score more than 62 points this season, improved to 8-9 all-time against Big East schools, including 5-1 against South Florida.
Auburn's previous victory against a Big East opponent came in 2002, an 82-70 win over Rutgers.
Senior Augustus Gilchrist had a team-high 10 points - all in the first half - and five rebounds for the Bulls, who lost despite holding their fifth straight opponent to less than 30 first-half points.
Blake Nash added eight off the bench for South Florida, which was held to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and was 8-for-16 from the free throw line.
Top Game Performances
| South Florida |
|
Auburn |
|
Augustus Gilchrist 10 |
Scoring |
Chris Denson 12 |
|
Hugh Robertson 3 |
Assists |
Rob Chubb 4 |
|
Hugh Robertson 7 |
Rebounds |
Kenny Gabriel 8 |
|
Anthony Collins 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Varez Ward 6 |
|
Anthony Collins 3 |
Steals |
Chris Denson 3 |
|
Ron Anderson 1 |
Blocks |
Kenny Gabriel 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| South Florida
|
40 |
33.3 |
4-18 |
8-16 |
6 |
23 |
2 |
6 |
14 |
| Auburn
|
52 |
41.5 |
3-14 |
15-18 |
11 |
34 |
5 |
7 |
14 |
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