Still in search of an answer to its struggles on the road and an elusive Quad 1 win, No. 16 Auburn responded with one of its best second halves of the season in a 91-77 win against Ole Miss.

Before Saturday, Auburn, (18-4, 7-2), was undefeated against Quads 2, 3 and 4. But all four of its losses came in Quad 1 games. So, while Auburn maybe didn’t have any necessarily bad losses, it lacked a truly good win.

That changed Saturday.

Auburn swept the season series 2-0 against Ole Miss.

Here are three takeaways.

Auburn finally gets a Quad 1 win

There are stats to dive into with this game, but the biggest takeaway is the big picture one: Auburn finally can put a Quad 1 win on its resume.

A win against a top-75 team in the NET rankings in a true road game is considered a Quad 1 win. Ole Miss entered Saturday at No. 59. That’ll play.

Auburn, though, entered Saturday 0-4 in Quad 1 games and 17-0 in all the others. Three of those four losses came in true road games. Auburn lost those games by a combined 15 points.

Finally, Auburn got over the hump.

Beating a resurgent Ole Miss team on the road isn’t going to be what Auburn hangs its resumé on. But this was one of Auburn’s most impressive performances of the season.

It’s a confidence-boosting win to get over the hump after three close road losses in Quad 1 games. Its only two road wins came over SEC teams with a combined three SEC wins.

On Friday, Pearl said Auburn would have a chance to fix its road woes and more importantly, if Auburn could do so, prove itself as a contender to win the SEC. For as well as Auburn played to start SEC play 5-0, it was going to have to prove it could beat a top team on the road in order to compete for a conference crown.

Auburn just showed it can do it.

Auburn responded in the second half

While Auburn has struggled on the road as a whole this season, that hadn’t frequently included its defense. Auburn allowed only 69 points in a loss to App State. It held Alabama, arguably the best offense in the country, to 79 points after weather a first-half storm. Mississippi State scored 64 points to beat Auburn.

In its road losses, Auburn’s defense gave it a chance to win in every one of those games.

And in the first half against Ole Miss, it looked like the defense had not traveled this time. Auburn allowed 44 first half points to Ole Miss and 52% shooting.

But just as Auburn did in the second half against Alabama, Auburn’s defense led a second half comeback. Against Alabama, Auburn would tie the game but wasn’t able to win it.

Auburn got all the way over the hump in Oxford.

Auburn’s defense held Ole Miss to 33 points in the second half.

After Ole Miss’ biggest lead came at 44-29, Auburn outscored Ole Miss 62-35 the rest of the way.

When Auburn got selective, its offense clicked

After losing to Mississippi State a week prior, Pearl said some Auburn players needed to start making shots or “put it away.”

Auburn certainly did not put it away in its first road game since. Auburn was Auburn is 14-76 in its three road losses coming into Ole Miss. Pearl’s concern was the sheer number of missed shots hurting Auburn’s ability to produce on offense.

He encouraged his players to be more selective in their shots.

But in the first road game since, Auburn shot, and shot a lot. At least at first.

And in turn, Auburn shot the ball better than it had in previous road games and did so in another tough atmosphere. Auburn made 12 3s. Its previous high was eight against Vanderbilt — which beat Missouri on Saturday in a matchup of previously winless SEC teams at the bottom of the standings.

But the real change came after halftime when Auburn got far more selective.

Auburn only attempted eight 3-pointers in the second half after 19 in the first. It instead prioritized getting points in the paint. Auburn scored 32 points in the paint in the second half.

When Auburn put away its free-flying shots in a situation where it has struggled, the offense responded with arguably its best second half of the season.

Auburn shot 73% in the second half. It scored 56 points in the second half. Center Johni Broome scored 15 second half points. Chad Baker-Mazara had 12.

At halftime, it had looked like the same story on the road for Auburn in its previous losses. But Auburn responded on both ends of the floor for a dominant half.

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