AUBURN | Have yourself a night Jabari Smith.

Auburn’s standout freshman scored a career-high 31 points to lead the 2nd-ranked Tigers to a 94-80 win over Vanderbilt Wednesday at soon-to-be-named Neville Arena.

“Jabari was spectacular, obviously,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told the Auburn Network. “That rim was pretty big tonight and I’m glad that he was aggressive.”

Smith shot 10 of 16 from the floor including 7 of 10 3-pointers. He added four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 28 minutes.

"Just staying aggressive throughout the game," said Smith. "I feel like I was making shots. Coach kept telling me to shoot it and I kept getting open looks, kept getting great play calls so it just came easy to me."

Vanderbilt opened the game with an 11-0 lead but Auburn finished the half on a 7-0 run to take a 42-38 lead at the break. The Tigers shot a blistering 70.8 percent from the floor in the second half to lead by as many as 19 points.

For the game, AU shot 58.5 percent from the floor including 11 of 22 3-pointers. AU made 21 of 26 free throws and out-rebounded VU 33-26.

“I don’t know in the league if we’ve had a better, more efficient half. That was pretty good,” said Pearl. “But we gave up 80 points and that’s just way, way too much.

“One of the things I’ve said is to peak, we need to start making shots and keep playing that defense. Well, we made shots but we really didn’t keep playing that defense.”

Walker Kessler also scored a career-high with 22 points. He made 8 of 10 field goals and added seven rebounds and seven blocked shots. Wendell Green had 12 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, helping AU’s bench out-score Vandy 32-15.

Auburn improves to 24-2 overall and 12-1 in the SEC, taking another step toward its fifth SEC regular season championship in school history. The Tigers lead both Kentucky and Tennessee by two games with five left to play.

Auburn returns to action Saturday at Florida. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.