AUBURN, Ala. – Devan Cambridge made a half-dozen 3-pointers and slammed a crowd-pleasing alley-oop, but the play that brought Auburn legend Charles Barkley to his feet was still to come.
When Isaac Okoro misfired on a 3-pointer from the top of key, Cambridge raced down the lane like a 747 on a runway, took off using his 43-inch vertical and dunked home the rebound with both hands in one acrobatic motion.
At the next whistle, Barkley joined the rest of the sold-out Auburn Arena crowd in standing to applaud the freshman's role in a 14-0 run that secured Auburn's 80-67 victory Wednesday over South Carolina.
"The coaches are telling me I need to crash the boards every time I can," said Cambridge, who set career bests in points (26), rebounds (5) and minutes played (21). "I just saw it bounce off. That's what I like, just dunking it, making energy plays. I went to go get it."
The only person unimpressed with Cambridge's putback dunk was its author.
Bounceman, Bounceman, Bounceman, Bounceman! @DevanCambridge 😱#WarEagle x #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/Ln3aEmGKo4
— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) January 23, 2020
"That was nothing," he said. "I can do better."
A confidence-building pregame talk between Cambridge and Auburn coach Bruce Pearl preceded the hot-shooting night.
"BP, he just told me to be confident," Cambridge said. "I had to step up today and I took that into consideration. I just played my game, my teammates found me, and I was just making my shots today."
"What are you waiting for?" Pearl said, recalling his conversation with Cambridge. "This team needs you this year. I know what the future could be for you."
Finding himself in "The Zone" in each half, Cambridge made his first four 3-point attempts in the first half, including two in 47 seconds to give Auburn a nine-point lead.
"I loved it," he said. "I felt like I couldn't miss."
By halftime, Cambridge had already exceeded his career high of 10 points against Cal State Northridge on Nov. 15.
"He came up big-time for us, making those shots, heavily contested 3s, and got some energy plays, getting dunks and rebounds, so that was big," said J'Von McCormick, who had five assists.
Cambridge regained his sizzling status in the second half, adding 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. For the game, he was 10 of 14, including 6 of 9 on 3-pointers, with zero turnovers.
Cambridge's career night came at the expense of the Gamecocks, whose coach saluted the Auburn freshman.
"Give that young man credit," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "He was on our scouting report. We said he was a capable 3-point shooter. He got a lot of wide-open looks because we couldn't keep their guards in front of us.
"What got him going were back-to-back 3s against our zone. He put them down, and because of that, they got away from us."
Pearl indicated that roles for each of Auburn's bench players will be determined in part by how they perform at the other end of the court.
Hey, @DevanCambridge, you just scored a career-high 2️⃣6️⃣ to help @AuburnMBB earn an @SEC win, now what are you going to do?
— Jeff Shearer (@jeff_shearer) January 23, 2020
Devan: I'm going to....the free-throw line. pic.twitter.com/a985sEFUG7
"If they can't defend, they can't play, so they've got to be able to go out there and defend," he said. "Devan made a couple tough shots, but he started out making a couple open shots. The bench was a huge factor for us tonight."
After speaking to reporters, Cambridge chose to celebrate his career night by returning to the court to practice free throws with two of Auburn's managers.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer