Auburn basketball escaped with a 66-63 win over South Carolina on Saturday, but suffered a concerning blow after All-American center Johni Broome left the game early with an ankle injury.

As Broome jumped to contest a layup by South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles, he landed awkwardly on Chaney Johnson’s left foot, rolling his left ankle. Broome had to be helped off the floor, not putting any weight on his left foot.

After the game, Bruce Pearl said on SEC Network that the injury is a “significant sprain” to Broome’s ankle.

“When we get back to Auburn tonight, we’ll get him an MRI and see if there’s anything else going on there,” Pearl added.

When speaking with the Auburn Sports Radio Network after the game, Pearl reiterated that Broome has a “pretty serious sprain.”

“We’ll MRI it, X-ray it when he gets back and hopefully that’s what it is,” Pearl said, “Don’t know much more than that.”

Pearl didn’t add any more details during his postgame news conference, but was asked how Auburn will adjust if Broome is forced to miss more time.

“It’s gonna be just like it was for us in the second half,” Pearl said. “It’s gotta be the next man up. So, whether it be Dylan Cardwell or Chaney Johnson or Ja’Heim Hudson or Chris Moore — that’s our depth on the frontline.”

Auburn will have a short turnaround before its next game, facing No. 14 Mississippi State on Tuesday at Neville Arena. Tipoff for Tuesday’s contest is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be streaming on SEC Network.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com

No. 2 South Carolina has been on an exceptional run in the SEC the past few seasons. 

It’s been a whopping 1,107 days since the Gamecocks lost a regular-season game against a conference foe.

And their 90-49 pummeling of Texas A&M on Thursday was South Carolina’s 50th consecutive regular-season SEC win. 

The last time South Carolina lost an SEC game was its 2021 conference opener, when Missouri remarkably handed the Gamecocks a one-point overtime defeat. 

Auburn men’s basketball was already a heavy favorite in its Saturday afternoon matchup with South Carolina, and the game just got tougher for the Gamecocks.

Starting point guard Jamarii Thomas was ruled out on Friday night’s Southeastern Conference availability report, a sizable blow to South Carolina’s offense. Thomas is averaging 12.3 points and 3.3 assists per game this season, leading the team in the latter category. Thomas also leads the team in minutes per game, averaging 31.1.

His absence is due to a knee sprain suffered in practice, according to a release from the university Friday evening. When previewing the game during his Thursday news conference, Bruce Pearl said he was “really impressed” with Thomas.

Thomas and senior guard Myles Stute were the two players listed as out on Friday’s report and forward Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk was listed as probable.

No Auburn players were listed on the availability report, meaning the Tigers will have all of their players available for Saturday’s game.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com