Saturday’s game between No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Alabama lived up to the hype of what was inarguably the biggest college basketball game in the state’s history.

For Auburn, the afternoon ended in elation, beating Alabama 94-85 and solidifying its spot as the No. 1 team in the country.

The game was physical, intense and everything else you’d expect out of the first No. 1 versus No. 2 game in Southeastern Conference men’s basketball history.

With the win Auburn improves to 23-2 and will return home Wednesday to face Arkansas.

Here are three takeaways from Auburn’s Iron Bowl of Basketball win over Alabama:

The defense was good enough

In Auburn’s two losses this season, defense was undoubtedly the biggest issue.

The Tigers gave up 84 points at Duke and 90 against Florida, leading to Bruce Pearl bringing up the defensive issues following both games.

Alabama came into Saturday’s game second in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom, trailing only Auburn. Against the Tigers, the Crimson Tide struggled to get going, scoring just 33 points in the first half on 31% shooting.

Despite a better second-half showing, Alabama could never quite get past Auburn, trailing for the entire game and eventually falling short.

Auburn’s defense was especially good at running Alabama off the 3-point line, holding the Crimson Tide to 19% from beyond the arc. The only area where Auburn seemed to have difficulties was on the glass, but the Tigers tightened up the defensive rebounding in the second half.

Auburn won behind the 3-point line

Given how the two teams play, you’d probably expect Alabama to be the team that shoots 30+ 3-pointers and gets a large chunk of its offense from beyond the arc.

That was Auburn on Saturday, as the Tigers made 12 of 30 3-point attempts, finishing far more efficient than Alabama.

Auburn was particularly hot from long range at the start of both halves, going on a 9-0 run after big shots from Miles Kelly and Johni Broome to start the game and three 3s in a row from Denver Jones to start the second half.

The Tigers shot fewer 3-pointers in the second half, but they seemed to continually make the important ones, never letting an Alabama run completely shift the game. Auburn shot 6-for-11 from 3 in the final 20 minutes, and big shots from Jones, Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara felt like the difference.

The best team in the country, solidified

Over the past two months, you could make a strong argument that Auburn was the best team in the country.

The Tigers spent much of that time atop the AP poll, but surges from Duke and Alabama have questioned the title. The loudest questions of whether or not Auburn is the true No. 1 came after the Tigers lost by nine at home to Florida last Saturday.

That led to Auburn splitting the No. 1 ranking in the AP and coaches polls with Alabama, making the No. 1 versus No. 2 Iron Bowl of Basketball matchup more meaningful than ever.

While questions arose last week, few remained after Saturday afternoon.

Auburn beat Alabama fair and square, and while it wasn’t a blowout by any means, the Tigers never seemed to lose control. Alabama made a few surging runs in the second half, but the Tigers never lost the lead and had an answer for every blow thrown by the Crimson Tide.

The win is the biggest of the year for an Auburn team that already has a strong resume. But more than that, there’s no longer much of an argument for who the best team in the country is.

At least for now.

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