Bruce Pearl used a slew of adjectives to describe Wendell Green Jr. last weekend.

He called Auburn’s starting point guard tough. He called him undersized. He called him stubborn. And he called him confident.

All four of those were on display again Tuesday night at Ole Miss, as No. 21 Auburn came away with a needed road win, and Green came away with his best performance of the season — and one of his best in an Auburn uniform. Green posted a season-high 23 points — going a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line in the process — while dishing out a season-high seven assists and pulling down five rebounds during the Tigers’ 82-73 win in Oxford, Miss.

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“Wendell was the best point guard on the floor,” Pearl said afterward. “Again, doesn’t get enough credit. One of the best point guards in the country. Made plays on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively. Scored, assisted, low turnovers, rebounded. Just a real complete game.”

That was despite what was a relatively quiet first half, at least scoring-wise, for the 5-foot-11 floor general. Green took a shot to the head early on and started the game 0-of-5 shooting, as he was just 1-of-7 overall in the first half — the lone make coming on a goaltend by Ole Miss — but he helped control the tempo for Auburn offensively and remained involved, accumulating five assists on the team’s 13 made baskets in the first half.

“You can’t let the shots dictate the rest of the game,” Green said. “I’m not just a scorer, so I don’t really let my shots dictate how I play. There’s a lot of other things I can do defensively, rebounding, passing. So, when my shot’s not falling, that doesn’t dictate how I’m playing necessarily. I don’t think a good game for me is when I have 25. I think a good game for me is when I’m doing the other things that dictate a good game for me.”

At Ole Miss, though, Green eventually got his offense going to complement the rest of the work he was putting in for Auburn, as he finished with his third 20-point game of the season — the first since Nov. 27 against Saint Louis — and matched his Auburn career high, which he previously set against Alabama last season.

It all started, really, when he got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 8:20 to go in the first half. Green stepped to the line and drilled all three attempts, which gave him his first points of the night and helped him get back into a rhythm with his shot — even as some rimmed out during the final stretch of the first half.

“That one little foul he got, he looked at me, he’s like, ‘I’m back in the groove again,’” senior wing Allen Flanigan said. “…He’s a great point guard, a guy who can create for himself and create for others and knock down a lot of big shots.”

Green got back into a groove after halftime, when he scored 18 of his 23 points while shooting 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. He didn’t commit a turnover in the second half, and he scored Auburn’s final eight points of the game — including calmly draining six free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

“I think, certainly tonight, officials are recognizing that Wendell Green’s a pretty dynamic player,” Pearl said. “So, when he was getting bounced and getting fouled, he was getting the whistle.”

It was a second consecutive impressive outing for Green since struggling in Auburn’s loss at Georgia last week. He scored 19 points to go with five assists and three rebounds in the win against Arkansas last weekend, then followed it up with a loaded stat line at Ole Miss.

“I’m feeling good about my game, and it showed in the second half,” Green said.

It’s the type of play Auburn will continue to need from its undersized, tough, stubborn and confident point guard. As Pearl said after that win against the Razorbacks: The Tigers feed off Green’s confidence.

Right now, at least, that confidence is growing — and with it, so too is Auburn’s performance on the court, as the team has bounced back nicely from that loss to Georgia that had many outsiders wondering if the sky was falling for Pearl’s team. Since then, though, Auburn notched its best win of the season at home against Arkansas, then followed it up with its best offensive performance in an SEC road game since it scored 109 points at South Carolina two years ago.

“Our offense is starting to come together — guys are starting to play better, myself included,” Green said. “We feel very comfortable out there. We’re just playing…. We’re just very comfortable. I like how we’re going. We’re progressing.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.