AUBURN | For Bruce Pearl, the postseason is all about the step-up.

He should know. Auburn’s 2019 run to the Final Four was one of the most impressive step-ups in program history.

After finishing 22-9 overall and tied for fourth in the SEC with an 11-7 record, the Tigers tore through the postseason winning four games in the SEC Tournament to win the championship and four more in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

In the SEC Tournament, AU stepped up its defense holding opponents to 65.3 points per game after allowing 68.5 during the regular season.

In the SECT championship game and first three games of the NCAA Tournament before his injury, Chuma Okeke averaged 15.8 points after averaging 11.9 during the regular season.

Of course, Bryce Brown and Jared Harper increased their scoring averages during the postseason, but AU was really boosted by a couple of bench players in J’Von McCormick and Danjel Purifoy.

McCormick increased his scoring from 3.4 to 6.5 points per game, and Purifoy from 2.8 to 5.5.

The Tigers also shot better from the free throw line, making 73.2 percent after averaging 70.5 in the regular season.

Six years later, Pearl is gearing up No. 3 Auburn for another potential postseason run. This time, AU will enter the postseason 27-4 overall and SEC regular season champions with a 15-3 league record.

"We're in postseason now,” said Pearl. “We're shifting gears to postseason, and postseason is all about step-up. It's just all about step-up.”

Pearl has already highlighted a couple of players that could step up for the Tigers in the postseason. He pointed to Miles Kelly’s 30 points on 9 of 14 3-pointers in a 94-78 win at Kentucky March 1, and Johni Broome’s career-high 34 points in Saturday’s loss to Alabama.

After the way the season ended with consecutive losses to Texas A&M and the Tide, Pearl is sure to put an emphasis on rebounding and defense heading into the postseason.

“We still won the regular-season championship, but that's not good enough for us,” said Broome. “We let two games slip in a row, and that's not like us. Whether we like it or not, it's tournament time now. We've got the SEC tournament to look forward to, and then March Madness.

“Now it's win or go home, basically. So we've got to lock in.”

No. 1 seed Auburn will play No. 8 seed Ole Miss, No. 9 seed Arkansas or No. 16 seed South Carolina in the SECT quarterfinals Friday at noon CT on ESPN.