It was a classic case of what South Carolina does so well under Frank Martin.

The Gamecocks brought energy. Scratched. Clawed. Fought.

But fighting hard isn’t enough against a team with the offensive weaponry and firepower that No. 5-ranked Auburn boasts.

The Tigers used their quick-strike offense – one that ranks in the top 25 in the country in points per game (79.2) – to build a big cushion early and stave off the Gamecocks in a 82-71 win at Neville Arena on Saturday.

Here are a few key observations that led Auburn (27-4, 15-3 SEC) to a season sweep of South Carolina (18-12, 9-9 SEC) and an outright SEC regular-season championship.

South Carolina led the SEC in turnovers heading into today’s game at 15.1 giveaways per game. The Gamecocks’ ball security was one of the primary keys to the game that we discussed heading into today’s matchup.

Five turnovers in the first four-plus minutes on Saturday marked the same helter-skelter pace that South Carolina got away with in its Tuesday win over Missouri.

And yet, those turnovers didn’t come back to bite South Carolina too hard. In those first five minutes, the Gamecocks were rattled – perhaps a product of playing in a raucous, hostile environment.

But, impressively, they settled into the game a substantial way and fought back, climbing to within a 24-22 deficit at the under-eight timeout.

Jabari Smith Jr. exploded, looking exactly like he’s looked for the last five games. Smith averaged 25.6 points per game in those contests, and he carried that momentum into a smoking-hot first-half stretch.

Smith was held scoreless until the 10:46 mark when he buried a three by rising over the top of his defender. After the Gamecocks pulled within that two-point deficit, the future top-three NBA Draft pick – and potential No. 1 overall pick – went to work again.

First a dunk. Then another 3-pointer. Then followed up by converting an and-1 and adding two free throws to push Auburn to a 48-31 lead at the break. He finished the half with 15 points for the bulk of a team-high 21.

It wasn’t a carbon copy of these two teams’ first matchup – an 81-66 Auburn win in early January. That’s because of Observation No. 4 on this list that we will get to in a moment.

In the first matchup, South Carolina kept it close for a little while in the first half, trailing 11-10 through the first seven minutes. But the Tigers’ offense took off, a 14-2 run over a three-and-a-half minute stretch putting South Carolina away early. The Gamecocks never recovered from that initial Auburn run, trailing by nine a couple of minutes later but trailing by double digits throughout almost the entire rest of the game – mostly because only one Gamecocks player (Erik Stevenson) was getting buckets.

On Saturday, the first half was eerily similar. South Carolina kept it close (24-22) early before Auburn caught fire with a 9-0 run (one that turned into a 21-5 run), and only one Gamecocks' player (James Reese V) was getting buckets.

This time, though, South Carolina got what it didn’t get the first time around – a second scorer.

After Reese (18 points) carried the torch with 14 first-half points, Jermaine Cousinard finished with a game-high 22 points with 16 coming in the second half.

Down 50-31, Cousinard and Keyshawn Bryant combined for a 9-0 run, and South Carolina kept chipping away at big deficits for the rest of the second half.

Every time the Gamecocks established momentum, though, Auburn came attacking. And every time Auburn struck back, South Carolina answered with its own run.

South Carolina cut Auburn’s lead to nine points on three separate occasions and cut it to 78-71 with 1:17 remaining. But that original first-half burst, and two subsequent leads of 19 points in the second half, was enough cushion for the Tigers to eventually get to the finish line.

It was going to take a lot for South Carolina to pull off what would have been its first ranked win of the season and its highest-ranked regular-season win since taking down No. 1 Kentucky at home in 2010.

Some things went right: a pair of solid scoring performances (Reese and Cousinard) and decent ball control – 16 turnovers isn’t good, but after its 20 giveaways in the first matchup and five to start the game, South Carolina still weathered the storm as well as can be expected against one of the best defensive teams in the country.

But this game was defined by Auburn’s offense going ballistic in key stretches. The Tigers finished 26-of-63 (41.3 percent) on field goals, 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) on 3-pointers, and 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) at the free-throw line – compared to South Carolina going 25-of-64 (39.1 percent), 8-of-25 (32 percent), and 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) in the same categories.

And now, the Gamecocks will look to regroup ahead of next week’s SEC Tournament. A couple of wins could lock up an NIT berth, but anything less than reaching the championship game – and they may need to win it outright given their résumé – will likely result in another missed NCAA Tournament despite the strong finish to the season.