Indiana presented a mismatch Auburn doesn’t see very often, so head coach Bruce Pearl did a little experimenting. Experimenting by nature can be a bit of a gamble.

Pearl bet on his team’s depth, versatility and athleticism.

Auburn isn’t going to be at a size disadvantage against many teams in the country, but Indiana is one of them. KenPom lists Indiana’s average player height at 79.1 inches, the third-highest average in the country. Auburn’s average height ranks 98th.

So in the eventual 104-76 win against Indiana on Saturday, Pearl gave up even more height to Indiana’s 7-foot center Kel’el Ware by putting power forwards Jaylin Williams and Chaney Johnson on him. He put his centers, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell, on Hoosiers’ power forward Malik Reneau.

“We were concerned about the physicality of Reneau for sure, and I put my five man on him,” Pearl said. “I put my power forward on Ware and I put my center on their power forward because Johni and Dylan can wrestle with Reneau. And every now and then they got it over the top to Ware, but we doubled him.”

It’s a bit of an unconventional strategy, especially with Ware. The gamble was putting Williams and Johnson — who are both listed to be at least four inches shorter than Ware — on the 7-footer with the idea their athleticism and length would make the day difficult for Ware.

Pearl played his cards well.

Ware only made two shots in the game. Reneau led Indiana with 15 points, though Auburn made them as difficult as possible. It took 13 shot attempts for Reneau to reach 15 points.

Pearl also utilized a combination Auburn rarely plays: Cardwell and Broome playing together. Pearl regarded Reneau and Ware as effectively two centers for Indiana, so in different stretches in the first half — including during an 18-1 first-half run — Auburn paired its two centers against them.

The variety of looks Auburn threw at Indiana dismantled what was already a struggling Hoosiers offense. During the critical stretch in the first half where Auburn pulled away for good, the Tigers’ defense forced Indiana to miss 10 consecutive shots. That meant nearly eight minutes where Indiana did not make a basket and in that time Auburn went on a 19-5 run.

Throughout the season, Pearl has regarded Auburn as 10-deep, meaning 10 players are part of the regular rotation. That gives Auburn the ability to play fast, which Pearl has emphasized, and be versatile in its game planning.

Depth also means Auburn has options on the offensive end. Ten different Auburn players scored against Indiana. Six of them scored more than 10 points. Seven of them made a 3-pointer.

And Broome, Auburn’s leading scorer, only had two.

“We’ve got 10 starters, so everybody is ready to play at any given moment,” point guard Aden Holloway said. “You could see that tonight. Johni, he struggled for one game. I know he’s going to bounce back next game, and we’re going to need him. But we’ve just got 10 starters. Every guy is ready to play at all times.”

Auburn’s ability to rotate and play multiple styles bodes well for the looks it is going to see in SEC play. There is Tennessee’s grinding defense and Alabama’s high-powered offense. Texas A&M has the league’s best guard and Mississippi State has possibly the best frontcourt player in Tolu Smith when healthy along with another smothering defense.

In the win over Indiana and the win over Virginia Tech, Auburn showed different ways to win. There are different skill sets that can Pearl can facilitate, just as he did to counter Indiana’s mismatches. It wears down an opponent, and Pearl knows it.

“And that’s why we played 10 or 11 guys,” Pearl said. “That’s why I’ve always played 10 guys with double-digit minutes. Just to have that cumulative effect. I think the environment, Indiana here got them off to a great start and the environment that Auburn had here didn’t let us get disrupted by it and we came back. That’s our best win of the year so far.”

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