AUBURN | A slow start by Auburn didn’t slow down Allen Flanigan.

The senior scored 18 points as the 15th-ranked Tigers rallied from a nine-point, second-half deficit to beat USF 67-59 Friday night at Neville Arena.

“It felt good to just being able to go out there and see the rim again, see the goal, see shots fall in,” said Flanigan.

Flanigan came off the bench to shoot 6 of 10 from the floor including 3 of 6 3-pointers as he topped last season’s high of 16 points. He added four rebounds and one blocked shot, but had five turnovers.

"Allen is a physical player," said AU coach Bruce Pearl. "He’s a physical defender. He’s a physical rebounder. We need his physicality on the floor. When Allen gets his feet set and his shoulders squat, he can really shoot the basketball.

"I’m very excited that he just looked so natural in that rhythm, but he can’t turn the ball over five times."

A layup and 3-pointer by Flanigan gave Auburn its first lead since early in the first half, and a dunk by Dylan Cardwell finished off a 12-2 run as the Tigers took a 41-37 lead with 12:21 left in the second half.

A 6-0 run shortly thereafter nearly blew the roof off of Neville Arena as Wendell Green found Dylan Cardwell for an alley-oop dunk and a 49-42 lead.

Green led the Tigers with 20 points, 18 coming in the second half. He scored 12 of AU’s final 13 points and added four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

"I just had to make free throws and just find a way to win. That’s what I said at halftime, find a way to win, and that’s what we did," said Green.

Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome had eight rebounds apiece while Dylan Cardwell had seven points and five blocked shots. Chris Moore had seven points and five rebounds.

Auburn shot poorly in the first half, making just 25 percent of its field goals including 2 of 14 from 3-point range. The Tigers also had 11 turnovers and trailed 30-21 at the break.

They were much more efficient in the second half, shooting 53.6 from the floor, but still turned the ball over nine times bringing the game total to 20.

USF won the rebounding battle 43-41 but AU had a big 34-18 edge in bench points. USF shot just 35.5 percent from the floor and had 17 turnovers.

"We weren’t sharp. Give them credit for it. We didn’t execute., We didn’t make shots. We turned the ball over way too much," said Pearl. "We’ve got to get better. I’m glad we got that win over a good team from a really good conference."

Auburn, which improves to 2-0 on the season, hosts Winthrop Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network in a Cancun Challenge non-bracketed game.