No win in the Southeastern Conference is easy and every victory in college basketball’s toughest league deserves some sort of celebration.

Auburn men’s basketball beat Georgia 82-70 Saturday afternoon, but it was the second game in a row the Tigers had problems with a team from the bottom half of the SEC, a week after beating then No. 2 Alabama on the road.

Late free throws stretched the margin, but similar to Arkansas, Georgia had a chance to win in the final minutes.

Auburn still took care of business, improving to 13-1 in conference play and inching closer to a third SEC regular season championship under head coach Bruce Pearl.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

Slow start

Continuing the trend from Wednesday’s 67-60 win over Arkansas, Auburn’s offense left a lot to be desired early in Saturday’s game.

The Tigers started the game slow, scoring 29 points and averaging .967 points per possession in the first half.

Turnovers weren’t as much of a problem against Georgia as they were against Arkansas, but the offense looked out of sorts at times. Open looks were hard to come by, Auburn had issues finishing at the rim and a good number of open shots wouldn’t fall.

Part of that is a credit to Georgia’s defense. The Bulldogs came into the game ranking 12th in the country in 3-point defense and 35th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings.

The slow start didn’t flip the outcome of this game, but it’s something the Tigers can’t afford to make a habit of going into March.

Johni Broome makes his case for Player of the Year

Auburn beat Georgia by just two in the teams’ first matchup in January, a game in which the Tigers were without star center Johni Broome.

Pearl said before the game that having Broome back would give the team a boost on both ends of the floor, and that seemed to be the case in Saturday’s rematch. The All-American finished with a season-high 31 points and 14 rebounds, leading the team in both categories.

Broome carried Auburn’s offense for stretches during the game on a day where an individual lift was much needed at times.

The performance comes one game after Auburn launched a website campaigning for Broome to win National Player of the Year, but what he did on the floor Saturday made his case clear.

Second half offense was the difference

With all negatives things you could say about Auburn’s offense to start the game, the Tigers deserve credit for their improvement after the break.

Auburn did a good job of getting to the basket in the second half, getting some open dunks, but also getting to the free throw line 22 times. That was needed, given the Tigers shot 27.3% from 3-point range.

The increased production started and ended with Broome. Nineteen of his 31 points came in the second half, and he made all seven of his field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes.

Feeding Broome and consistently getting to the basket and free throw line finished with Auburn scoring 53 points in the second half and shooting 59.3% from the field.

That was crucial in half where Georgia also significantly increased its offensive output, scoring 46 points and shooting 46.7% from the field. The slow start obviously wasn’t ideal, but the second half proved why Auburn is still the country’s most efficient offensive team, even on a day where shots weren’t falling from deep.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com