When the 13th-ranked Auburn Tigers (23-7, 11-5 SEC) waltzed into Missouri’s Mizzou Arena Tuesday night, Missouri (8-21, 0-17 SEC) was still looking for its first SEC win.

Meanwhile, Auburn had an opportunity to pick up its fifth SEC road victory, giving Bruce Pearl and the Tigers a winning conference record when playing on the road.

Though Pearl went on to call Missouri a team whose “math is so compromised,” he knew a win wouldn’t come easy Tuesday night and referenced Auburn’s last visit to Columbia in 2019, when the top-ranked Tigers narrowly escaped with a win.

While Missouri didn’t make it easy for Auburn — especially in the first half — the visiting Tigers eventually separated themselves from the home Tigers and secured a decisive 101-74 win.

Here are three takeaways from Auburn’s 23rd win of the season.

Auburn’s 3-point shooting slow to come in Missouri

As Auburn approached the month of March, Pearl was hoping to see the Tigers shoot the ball well from beyond the arc as 3-point shooting is what helped Auburn make a deep postseason run in 2019.

“That’s what has to happen,” Pearl said.

And in its last three games entering Tuesday’s meeting with Missouri, Auburn averaged more than 10 made 3-pointers per game.

All season long, Auburn hasn’t shot the ball well on the road, which was reason for concern for Pearl.

“We’ve got to shoot the ball better at Missouri than we’ve shot the ball on the road,” Pearl said Monday. “We’ve got to shoot like we did at Georgia.”

The Tigers logged 14 made 3-pointers against the Bulldogs on Feb. 24 — tying Auburn’s game high.

But against Missouri, Auburn was never able to find its groove from beyond the arc. The shot selection wasn’t bad, the Tigers just couldn’t get their shots to fall.

By the midway point the game, Auburn was just 2-for-14 from the perimeter with junior Chad Baker-Mazara responsible for both makes, which came within the first five minutes of the game.

Down the stretch of Tuesday’s game, Auburn found a bit more success from the perimeter as it finished the night with eight 3-pointers, but it certainly took a bit of time for Auburn to find its rhythm.

Baker-Mazara added another made 3-pointer to his night to finish with three, which led the team.

Offensive rebounds, second-chance points keep Auburn afloat in first half

Looking at the first-half box score, one might assume Auburn was rolling over Missouri instead of it being a narrow, five-point ball game in the visiting team’s favor.

At the break, Auburn was having its way on the offensive glass as it tallied 13 offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, Missouri had logged 13 defensive rebounds, meaning Auburn was coming down with its own missed shots 50% of the time.

However, not only was Auburn finding success on the offensive boards, but it was also finding success in converting them as it logged 17 second-chance points in the first half.

On the other end of the floor, Missouri recorded just six offensive rebounds and five second-chance points in the first half.

Down the stretch, Missouri tightened the gap in both offensive rebounds and second-chance points, but Auburn still finished the night with a lopsided advantage as it beat Missouri 14-10 on the offensive glass and 22-7 in second-chance points.

Auburn can do no wrong in the second half

The season-long trend of Auburn junior forward Johni Broome has been his strong second-half performances.

While that pattern continued Tuesday as Broome scored nine of his 15 points in the second half, it looked to be contagious against Missouri as Broome’s teammates had no trouble scoring in the second period either.

After a turbulent first half that saw Auburn shoot the ball at a 37% clip, the visiting Tigers turned the corner in the second half with a 76% shooting performance, which helped Auburn finish the game having shot it 52 from the field and put up the most points Missouri has allowed at home all season.

While fifth-year senior Jaylin Williams led Auburn’s scoring efforts with 17 points, the Tigers saw six finish in double figures as Baker-Mazara, Broome, Chaney Johnson, Denver Jones and Dylan Cardwell all logged 10 or more points.

Meanwhile, on the defensive end of the floor, Auburn held Missouri to just 35 points in the second half on a 9-for-29 second-half shooting performance.