Takeaways from Auburn basketball's 80-61 win over Jacksonville State

The Tigers started the game out a little slow, mainly because Jacksonville State was making everything they were throwing up. Auburn maintained composure and got back into the game, eventually claiming a 39-27 lead at the halftime break.

Auburn led by as many as 21 in the second, but the Gamecocks came roaring back and cut the lead to 12 midway through the half. Once again, the Tigers tightened up defensively, and Jabari Smith casually ended a man's career in the final minute of the game.

Auburn is going to need to continue to be resilient when things get rough moving forward. They can't allow Texas A&M to happen again.

Darian Adams, the focal point of the Jacksonville State offensive attack, was held to 8 points on 3-of-14 shooting. He is the team's primary scorer, ball-handler, and distributor. Auburn did a great job of making sure he never got into a rhythm, and by default, the Gamecocks' offense scored 61 points.

There were only a combined 18 turnovers between Auburn and Jax State (8 JSU, 11 AU). Where the Tigers gained an advantage was on the glass (+18 rebounding margin, 18 second chance points) and distributing the ball to teammates (23 assists as opposed to JSU's 9.)

After watching film on JSU, it was clear that they didn't have an individual player that could guard Smith from a size standpoint. Smith was about three inches taller than his defenders in this game, and he ended up shooting very well because of it (6-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-7 from deep) and dropping 20 points on the Gamecocks.

Auburn finished with 25 fast break points, much more than usual.

If the half court game isn't there against USC or Miami, the Tigers could really benefit from getting some buckets in transition. They have the personnel to do it. Some better three point shooting would aid them.