AUBURN — Auburn wanted to finish non-conference play as it started.

The Tigers have been through a bit of a bumpy patch in December, squeaking out narrow victories against Dayton, UAB and Murray State and suffering its second loss of the season to N.C. State. However, in its final non-conference tuneup before the SEC slate hits in January, Auburn cruised to a 95-49 victory over an outmatched North Florida side.

It reset a dominant tone heading into the Ole Miss game on Jan. 9.

"I thought tonight from an overall standpoint of effort and energy, it was probably our best effort," coach Bruce Pearl said. "When we play alert and we're engaged, we got a chance to be pretty good. I've had to coach effort and energy from this team more than I would like but I think the kids can see the results. It's a good way to head into the holidays."

Despite the 95-point outing, Auburn didn't put forth its most productive shooting night of the season. The Tigers were only 35 percent from 3-point range — acceptable, but not up to its own standard. None of it mattered, however, given the work on the defensive end.

Auburn forced 33 turnovers that resulted in 41 points, which made all the difference in the 46-point victory. It was a group effort defensively, but Chuma Okeke had 5 steals and Anfernee McLemore created 4 steals. McLemore was personally impressed by Okeke's effort on the defensive end.

"We were just having fun. Just playing as a team, just playing hard, just being out there playing with a lot of effort. Guys were in the right spots," McLemore said. "Chuma had five steals, but it felt like he had at least 10. He was getting in on everything."

After the game, Malik Dunbar said Auburn's defense is the key to its success. On a team full of shooters, he said someone is bound to have a good shooting performance as long as the effort is there on the defensive end. That person against North Florida was Bryce Brown.

Brown returned to his old ways with an 18-point, 4-assist game on 5-of-10 shooting from behind the arc. Dunbar, Okeke, McLemore and Austin Wiley joined Brown in double figures. Jared Harper added a 10-assist game in a game he only took 7 shots, his second-lowest output of the season.

Even Auburn's walk-ons got in on the fun late in the game.

Myles Parker had a ferocious two-handed slam in the final three minutes of the game. Will Macoy pick-pocketed an Osprey defender and finished it on the other end with an almost dunk that got the Auburn bench as hyped as any moment in the game — save, perhaps, Horace Spencer finally hitting a 3-pointer.

"My favorite part was probably when Will [Macoy] got the little steal, and I thought he was finna dunk it. That was probably my favorite part," Dunbar said. "We was hype about that. We like when we can put the walk-ons in. That's probably the best part of the game, knowing we did our part."

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Bryce Brown — This could've gone to several different Auburn players. Jared Harper put up double-digit assists. Austin Wiley was not defendable by an undersized North Florida squad. But Brown returned to what he does best: getting buckets. Brown scored 18 points on 5-of-10 from deep and added four assists.

PLAY OF THE GAME: There were 10 dunks that could've probably classified as play-of-the-game worthy. So we'll defer to the one that had the craftiest pre-dunk play. At the 3-minute mark in the first half, Chuma Okeke saved a ball from going out of bounds on the defensive end. The save landed in Jared Harper's hands, and the Auburn point guard pushed it up the floor. He had a no-look bounce pass in traffic that got through to Horace Spencer who finished with a ferocious dunk.

STAT OF THE NIGHT: North Florida turnover troubles — The Ospreys turned the ball over 33(!) times. Despite Auburn not having its most efficient shooting night, the Tigers more than capitalized on North Florida's turnover issues. Auburn scored 41 points on those 33 turnovers.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: Malik Dunbar on how he'll spend his layoff before SEC play — "I'm going to be in the gym. ... My jumper, I can't throw a chair in a lake right now."