AUBURN — The Jungle was waiting to pop all evening.

It nearly did when Auburn basketball guard KD Johnson tried what would've been the dunk of the year in the second half, but South Carolina freshman Collin Murray-Boyles fouled him and a collective groan permitted through the crowd in Neville Arena.

The crowd wanted to roar again as the ball soared through the air on a few alley-oops attempts, but the Tigers couldn't quite finish the dunk. Auburn was dominant Wednesday in its 101-61 victory over the Gamecocks − Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams sank nine triples − but the one thing that seemed to be missing was the signature highlight.

It finally came with 2:30 remaining, as Chaney Johnson collected a South Carolina turnover and raced down the floor before tossing a lob in the direction of Dylan Cardwell. Cardwell flushed it, the crowd erupted and a dead ball 16 seconds later allowed coach Bruce Pearl to empty the bench of his reserves.

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The crowd exploded again when walk-on guard Jalen Harper got his second shot attempt to fall, breaking the 100-point milestone for the third time this season. Two of those instances came in the friendly confines of Neville Arena, and the other came on a neutral floor in Atlanta on Dec. 9.

Auburn has problems − the Tigers are 3-4 in true road games, including a 16-point loss at Florida on Saturday − but none of that negative momentum seems to linger when Pearl's team takes the floor in front of The Jungle.

A couple of road losses at Alabama and Mississippi State in late January? That doesn't matter to Auburn, which followed those defeats up with a 17-point win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 31 and an 18-point victory over Alabama on Feb. 7.

The Tigers are unfazed at home, winners of 16 straight in Neville Arena. They're 45-2 in their last 47 home games, a run that dates back to a win against Tennessee on Feb. 27, 2021.

"The Jungle is The Jungle," said Broome, who registered a career-best four 3-pointers on five attempts in the win over South Carolina. "I think it's the best home-court advantage in the country. When you've got people and students willing to camp out and watch us play, that gives us confidence knowing that they've been waiting for us to come out and play well.

"We have to reward them in a way. We can't come out here and go to bed and let them down. We come out here and play for each other and the fans."

Auburn is firmly in the race for a regular-season SEC title, and a sizable reason for that is because of the advantage it enjoys on the Plains. The Tigers are the only team in the conference with an unbeaten home record, and fans don't seem ready to give that up.

Students began lining up for Saturday's game against Kentucky immediately after the win over the Gamecocks.

"I'm so happy for Auburn. It's going to be a gorgeous weekend," Pearl said. "We have students sleeping out already, right now for the game. The weather is good. There's going to be some fun activities out there for our students. It's going to be a great, great weekend.

"I want our kids to enjoy it. At the same time, we work all year long for these opportunities."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball is a contender because of its play in Neville Arena