In what seemed to be like the perfect environment for a trap game. No. 1 Auburn basketball weathered the storm surviving Georgia 70-68 in Athens.

Now sitting at 17-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play, The Tigers will have a week to prepare for an early game of the year contender hosting Tennesse next weekend.

Auburn was without its team captain Johni Broome for a second straight game. However, Tahaad Pettiford stepped up huge for the Tigers leading the contest scoring a career-high 24 points.

“I hadn’t even thought about that. Two ranked opponents without [Johni Broome]. I hadn’t even thought about that. Again, we just sort of move on to the next guy, develop our gameplans based on our strengths and our weaknesses,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

A first half game of runs

The Tigers jumped out to an early 24-8 lead on the Bulldogs after a 16-1 run following the first media timeout.

Auburn started the half 9-of-16 from the floor, sparked by Pettiford’s 12 points off three 3-point baskets in seven minutes off the bench.

Georgia responded by ending the half on a 18-7 run cutting the deficit to 33-27 at the halftime mark. Auburn went cold during that stretch shooting 32% from the floor in that half of play.

“My hat’s off to Mike White and that coaching staff. They have changed the culture of this program. They’ve gotten great kids in recruiting. They’ve beaten me in recruiting like, really. A lot of guys on that roster, we’ve recruited my hat’s off to them. They’ve done a great job. Mike’s always been a great coach,” Pearl said.

Auburn finally wins battle in the trenches

After struggling with rebounding against conference opponents, the Tigers led in that category against Georgia.

The frontcourt duo of Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson dominated the glass for most of the afternoon. Cardwell’s lower leg soreness made room for senior Jaheim Hudson to provide the Tigers with quality minutes on the floor.

“Well, we made 10 threes, and we shot a great percentage from three and that made a big factor,” Pearl said. “The second factor is we didn’t get dominated on the boards. The fact that we had 25 defensive rebounds to their 12 offensive rebounds, those two factors had a long to do with us hanging on.”

Auburn’s bench outscored the Georgia bench 32-15 helping the Tigers close out the second half with a victory.

Comeback second half for Auburn leaders

Behind the Pettiford masterclass, Chad Baker-Mazara bounced back with 13 points after shooting 1-of-10 from the floor in the first half.

“Chad is a very special player and I’m sure that he appreciated that we kept on trusting him and he delivered,” Pearl said.

Miles Kelly added 13 points and Denver Jones and Hudson combined for 13 points for the Tigers.

Despite the roller coaster ride this game presented, Georgia only led once in the contest and falls to 0-20 all-time against AP No. 1 teams.

The Tigers will return back to Neville arena for a highly anticipated game against Tennessee.