In need of a win coming off its toughest week of the season, No. 16 Auburn methodically pulled away from Vanderbilt 81-54 Wednesday night at Neville Arena led primarily by a dominant defensive effort.

Beating Vanderbilt will count only as a Quad 4 win for Auburn, but maybe about as important a Quad 4 win as head coach Bruce Pearl’s team could get.

Auburn is now 17-4 overall and 6-2 in SEC play.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Auburn responded to its two-game skid

There may not be an SEC team anyone necessarily wants to face, but facing the last-placed Vanderbilt team at Neville Arena was probably about as good timing as Auburn could have.

Auburn lost road games last week to Alabama and Mississippi State after jumping into the top 10 of the AP poll on the heels of an 11-game win streak.

So this game on Wednesday night was always going to be important to rebuild confidence. Certainly, there was frustration on the trip from Starkville back to Auburn. Pearl had talked about shooting struggles and how to build this team’s rhythm back.

Mission accomplished. Mostly.

This was far from a perfect Auburn performance. Auburn’s offense shot the ball better. It shot 36% from the field in the first half before responding to shoot 53% in the second.

Auburn did shoot the ball much better on its 3-pointers, finishing at 38% for the game. It made 10 of 26 attempts from deep.

Pearl changed his starting line to put Tre Donaldson as the starting point guard over Aden Holloway. Donaldson started at Mississippi State on Saturday due to a “violation of team rules.” But Donaldson’s placement in the lineup over Holloway on Wednesday was Pearl making a change based on how the two have played. More on that below.

Auburn won. And that’s the stat Pearl is going to be most happy with.

Fouls kept Vanderbilt within striking distance

Maybe one of the more underrated weaknesses of this Auburn team is a propensity to foul. Entering the night, Auburn was 256th nationally committing more nearly 19 fouls per game.

And fouls are what kept Vanderbilt in the game for much of the first half. Auburn never truly pulled away from Vanderbilt until the game’s final 10 minutes.

Auburn played good defense as it allowed only seven makes on 29 Vanderbilt first-half shots. But it committed 10 first-half fouls and 12 Vanderbilt free-throw attempts. Despite shooting the ball much better than Vanderbilt, Auburn only led by 10 at halftime because it couldn’t keep Vanderbilt away from the free-throw line.

By game’s end, Auburn committed 21 fouls.

Foul trouble has been an issue throughout this season for Auburn. But it has rarely truly hurt them because it has won by such comfortable margins so frequently. Wednesday was another example.

Fouls did hurt Auburn against Mississippi State.

Dylan Cardwell only played six minutes and had four fouls. That led to Johni Broome needing to play a season-high 34 minutes and it was clear by the end of the game he was exhausted. Cardwell’s foul trouble limited Auburn’s rotation which has been so balanced for all 11 members this season.

Mississippi State won the game despite only shooting 50% from the free throw line on Saturday. Auburn had a chance to win that game despite the foul trouble because Mississippi State has the worst free throw percentage in the SEC.

Other games may not give Auburn the same chance. Auburn hasn’t been truly bit yet.

Aden Holloway’s SEC slump continued

Holloway was shooting 29% from the field and 26% on 3-pointers in SEC play entering Wednesday night.

Pearl has talked about the need to find his confidence again, but this wasn’t that night. On Tuesday, Pearl said he hasn’t been upset with Holloway’s shot selection, but he just needs to get the ball in the basket.

Holloway kept shooting Wednesday night. He had open looks. He still didn’t make them.

Holloway finished the game 0-5 from the field. All of his shots were 3-pointers. He scored one point from the free-throw line.

Holloway’s game is heavily dependent on his 3-point shot. He’s made more than two in a game only once since the start of SEC play. He is 11-47 on 3-pointers in SEC play.

He’s going to keep shooting. At some point, Auburn needs them to fall.

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