South Carolina has had maybe its best season thus far in school history and there’s just something about Auburn it hasn’t figured out. South Carolina tied a school record with 26 wins. It reached its highest AP poll ranking since the 1990s and its fewest losses in a season since the 1970s. The Gamecocks will comfortably make the NCAA Tournament and likely as a No. 5 seed.

And yet in two games this season, Auburn beat that by a combined 71 points. Head coach Bruce Pearl’s team beat South Carolina by 40 on Valentine’s Day and by a 31-point margin, 86-55, on Friday at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

With the win, the No. 4 seeded Auburn advanced to the semifinals Saturday where it will face No. 9 seed Mississippi State.

So what has worked so well two times in a row?

Well Pearl didn’t quite get into the specifics, but it comes down to something he has said after several of Auburn’s blow outs this season: it’s just a good matchup.

“The other thing, too, this doesn’t get enough talk: It’s about matchups,” Pearl said Friday. “I’m not going to tell you why it’s a good matchup for us and a bad one for them. It just is. There’s things about the way we play and they work that sort of works out for us.”

Pearl has said this after Auburn won the Legend’s Classic in Brooklyn earlier this season. He said that when Auburn beat South Carolina the first time back in February.

“I also think that — and again, it doesn’t get studied or talked about enough — certain matchups are certain matchups,” Pearl said on Valentine’s Day. “So the way we guard or the things we do offensively worked really well against South Carolina tonight. Against Florida and that matchup, the way they play, the way we play, it didn’t match up very well for us.”

Pearl was asked a follow-up question about it being a good matchup. He said he wanted to dodge that question too, not wanting to give away any secrets.

But in both games, Pearl mentioned the impact of his big men.

In the first game, Pearl mentioned how well his big men shot the ball. Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome each made nine 3-pointers in that game. It left South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris to talk 24 hours before playing Auburn about hoping Pearl’s team wouldn’t shoot the ball that well again.

Well, Williams and Broome only made three on Friday, but Auburn made 47% of its shots from deep and 49% of its shots from the field.

Auburn was much better in the paint against South Carolina on Friday than it was in February. Auburn had a 42-22 edge in the second game after a 36-30 edge during the regular season matchup.

Auburn’s offense maybe played its best game of the season in the 40-point Valentine’s Day win, scoring 101 points and shooting 61% from the field. Auburn’s offense was stellar in both games, albeit the rematch not being quite as dominant as the original.

Yet while Auburn’s offense was successful in two different ways across the two different games, the defense was thoroughly consistent.

South Carolina made 16 of 57 shots on Friday and 18 of 52 shots at Neville Arena.

Auburn’s defense was far more dominant on South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson who scored 22 points in the first game and three in the second. Star freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles had 19 points in the first matchup and four in the second.

For as great as Murray-Boyles has been this season, he wasn’t enough on his own on the interior to compete with Auburn’s big men.

South Carolina scored a combined 116 points across the two games. Auburn scored 189.

“We’re built a little differently,” Pearl said. “I think Dylan and Johni, Chaney and J-Will are all older and they’re all bigger, and they’re willing to be physical and stuff.”

But reporters kept pushing Pearl. What about this matchup keep working for Auburn? It’s clear in Auburn’s depth and its dominance in the paint.

“Tell you what, you’re getting better,” Pearl joked when he was asked again about the matchup. “That’s a good question.”

So then Pearl finally answered with one thing he saw.

“(Assistant coach Mike Burgomaster) had a bit of a wrinkle in something we run all the time that was really effective early getting downhill,” Pearl said. “Hadn’t run it yet. We ran it last year. It definitely helped us get downhill, which then set the tone for not settling and getting to the rim.”

Maybe not quite a full answer. Does it matter? The score tells the story on its own.

Matt Cohen covers sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]