Late comeback forces overtime; J’Von McCormick heroics lead Auburn to win over LSU
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The LSU Tigers went to Nashville and lost to Vanderbilt in embarrassing fashion on Wednesday night, snapping the Commodores’ 28-game SEC losing streak.
It looked like things might get worse for Will Wade’s squad, as the Tigers had to head to Auburn to take on the No. 11 Tigers on Saturday. However, LSU built up a big lead, looking like it was going to dominate Auburn.
Then, though, as has happened several times this season, LSU allowed its opponent to battle back in the second half, closing the gap to 72-69 with just under a minute left to play. Then, J’Von McCormick drilled a three-pointer to make it 74-72 with 43 seconds left.
With 20.5 seconds left, Auburn’s Samir Doughty made a layup in transition to tie it at 74-74, and a last-second shot attempt from Skylar Mays missed, sending the game to overtime.
LSU took a 90-89 lead with 9 seconds left in overtime, thanks to a dunk by Emmitt Williams that came off an Auburn turnover. That’s when J’Von McCormick played hero, though. He drove the length of the court to hit a floater in transition to give the Tigers a thrilling 91-90 victory over LSU.
A+ shot by J’Von McCormick. F- celebration. pic.twitter.com/Q4acKE78ag
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) February 8, 2020
Doughty led Auburn with 26 points, but McCormick had 23 huge points, especially down the stretch.
Mays finished with a career-high 30 points, doing all he could for LSU. Unfortunately for Mays, it wasn’t quite enough. Now, both LSU and Auburn have 2 SEC losses, tied with Kentucky atop the conference standings.
Auburn has now earned its second overtime win of the week after beating Arkansas on Tuesday. Will this win spark the Tigers to a regular-season SEC title?
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
