Allen Flanigan and Anfernee McLemore answered Bruce Pearl's call.

The Tigers' head coach had been pleading for better bench production from his team not just recently, but for most of Auburn's 2019-20 campaign. And led by the legacy freshman and the battle-tested senior, Pearl's bench dropped 34 points — their second-highest output of the season — in No. 5 Auburn's 82-60 victory over Georgia on Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot-5 freshman forward Flanigan scored a career-high 9 points in the first half alone. With his 3-point stroke from outside and his pull-up looks in the lane, Flanigan spaced out the floor well for Pearl's offense after the Tigers' slow start in the halfcourt.

"It feels great, you know, for me to come off the bench and be very productive for the guys," Flanigan said. "And the guys, they kept on egging me on, giving me confidence."

While much of the conversation surrounding Georgia star shooting guard Anthony Edwards was how Auburn's Isaac Okoro would defend him, Flanigan was also impressive against the projected lottery pick, particularly in the first half.

"I was trying to stay more on his right hand, trying to make him put it in his left more. Just playing hard," Flanigan said. "It meant a lot for me to be able to go out there and guard him like I did and have that matchup because it showed what I'm able to do, too."

Edwards shot 1-for-5 from the field, 0-for-3 from the 3-point range and 1-for-3 from the foul line in the first 20 minutes. And his frustration, as the Auburn student section cheered "overrated" and as Edwards hung his head after misses, only gave Flanigan more fuel to his defensive fire.

"[Edwards] showed it a little bit in his emotions," Flanigan said. "He dropped his head a couple times. It gave me more confidence to keep pressuring and try to stay on that right hand."

Flanigan finished with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, as well as six rebounds. In the advanced analytics, he was Auburn's most productive player on the afternoon. He scored 18 in his Efficiency Stat, 11.8 on his Game Score (overall productivity) and had a plus/minus of 24 and eight solo defensive stops, all of which led the Tigers.

He also led Auburn with a Floor Percentage of 71.4%, meaning the Tigers scored on nearly three-fourths of the possessions that Flanigan was on the court.

McLemore also added a fiery outburst of his own midway through the second half, scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the second half, including a trio of dunks that helped keep the momentum in the Tigers' favor as they kept their lead in the 20-point range late.

"We didn't start out as well as we wanted to," McLemore said. "So just being able to — me and (Flanigan) being able to come off the bench and provide a spark, I think it was big for our team tonight."

Overall, the Tigers' bench shot 65% from the field and 72% between their leading trio of Flanigan, McLemore and Jamal Johnson (6 points).

"The numbers speak for themselves," Pearl said of his bench. "... Anfernee and Allen and Jamal were terrific. And when they start playing like that, that bench starts playing like that, we’ve got a chance to be a very good ball club."

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