On the road, with a No. 1 ranking and 15-game winning streak on the line, Auburn had to fight tooth and nail against an upset-minded Missouri team for all 40 minutes. But, in the end, it was a missed basket, and a near offensive rebound from Walker Kessler sealed the Tigers 55-54 victory.

"They call it survive and advance, and the Auburn Tigers survived, and we're advancing," Bruce Pearl said.

Down by one with less than two minutes to play, K.D. Johnson made two huge baskets: a three-point play to give Auburn (18-1, 8-0) a lead and then a layup underneath the basket to stretch it to four points. It was part of Johnson's team-high team-high 17 points, and Pearl knew it was time to give him the chance to win the game.

"Give the ball to KD Johnson and get the hell out of the way," the Auburn coach said.

Walker Kessler, held to just five points in the first half, finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, including seven offensive, while blocking two shots. Jabari Smith, Auburn's leading scorer for the season, struggled to just five points on 2-of-15 shooting, including 1-of-7 from behind the arc. Overall, the Tigers shot 30 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from the three-point line.

Yet Auburn's defense came through when it mattered, holding the Tigers to a 30.4 field goal percentage in the second half. In all, it helped Pearl's team keep a two-game lead in the SEC title race, but as always, he's aware there is still a lot of work to do.

"Shoot, we didn't play like the best team in the country tonight," Pearl said. "But just being ranked No. 1 doesn't make you No. 1, does it?"

But Pearl wasn't going to go without complimenting his players.

"A team with lesser character would not have been able to come back and win this game," he said.

The Tigers host Oklahoma on Saturday in Auburn Arena at 1 p.m. C.T.