In the 159th battle of the Tigers, Auburn walked away with an 87-74 victory over LSU to remain unbeaten in conference play.

Auburn took 29 more shots than LSU but leaned on 15 total steals to round up an impressive defensive performance in Baton Rouge.

“Look, that’s a Quad 1 win, and that’s a great win for our ball club,” Bruce Pearl said postgame. “LSU has a couple of key injuries, but that’s a good team.”

Now sitting at 19-1 overall and 6-0 in conference play, here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game:

Auburn’s defense sparks early double-digit lead

After opening the game missing its first nine shots, Auburn shot 40% from the floor against LSU. The orange and blue Tigers connected on just eight 3-point shots, shooting 32% as a team.

Despite the shooting woes, Auburn’s defense was stellar scoring 22 points off of 20 LSU turnovers. LSU trailed as most as 12 points in the first half behind a 17-2 run from Auburn before halftime.

“We grinded it out. I thought our defense was really, really good. To turn over a team 20 times at home, I thought we impacted ball screens and were really aggressive,” Pearl said. “Our defensive game plan was really effective.”

LSU only led once in the contest dropping its sixth conference game of the season. This is the 12th Quad-1 victory for Auburn, adding on to the SEC record they set this year.

Strong night in the trenches for Auburn

Auburn had six offensive rebounds after its opening possession of the game. The Tigers would use that momentum the entire game leading the game in that category.

The shooting struggles revealed itself in the paint as Auburn only had 20 second chance points.

Leading scorer Johni Broome got his 12th double-double on the year, finishing with 26 points and 16 rebounds.

“They hit us in the mouth right at the start. They were ready to play. Miles Kelly hit a couple of big shots to keep us in it, which is what great players do,” Pearl said. “Then, when everybody was fatigued, Johni’s physicality took over.”

LSU Tigers offense not enough for Auburn’s depth

Behind Broome, Cam Carter’s 24 points led LSU in scoring as he only missed two shots from the floor. Carter scored 16 points in the second half cutting the Tigers lead.

Auburn’s bench outscored LSU 21-18 behind Tahaad Pettiford’s 10 points and Ja’Heim Hudson’s seven points.

Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara combined for 24 points complimenting Broome’s dominant performance. The Tigers will travel to Ole Miss this weekend before hosting Oklahoma inside Neville arena.