Pearl’s Tigers like to shoot. A lot. From a long way out.

Auburn had made 38.2 percent of its 3-point attempts this season, accounting for 43.5 percent of the Tigers’ scoring. Their 421 made 3-point field goals led the nation going into Friday’s game, and their 1,113 attempts were the second most in the country.

But after Friday’s win, guard J’Von McCormick said his teammates’ defense should not be overlooked. “We knew transition defense was the key,” he said of Auburn’s eight steals.

When the Tigers headed to the locker room at halftime on Friday with a 41-39 lead, they were thinking of reloading rather than catching their breath. The teams had combined to take 70 shots; for Auburn, half came from beyond the 3-point arc and, truth be told, they were mostly off the mark: 5 for 19.

That changed drastically in the second half, but not before the Tigers had their hearts stopped. After they took a 64-54 lead, the left leg of their sophomore big man, Chuma Okeke, seemed to buckle.

The arena went silent. Okeke was given a towel to bite on for comfort. He hobbled into the locker room with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and then went to an emergency room for an X-ray on his knee.

Auburn, however, kept firing the ball up — quickly and from far away. Danjel Purifoy came off the bench and drained two consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 16. He had four 3-pointers altogether and finished with 14 points.