GREENVILLE | Jacksonville State got off to the kind of start upsets are made of, making 4 of their first 6 3-pointers and taking a 17-11 lead midway through the first half.

Auburn kept up its intensity, however, and finished the first half on an 11-0 run and started the second half on a 7-0 run to take control of the game and eventually win 80-61 in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

“Credit to them, they were hitting some really tough shots, contested shots, and really good shots,” said Walker Kessler, who finished just short of a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocked shots.

“We knew if we weathered the storm and stuck it out, they were going to start falling. We're confident in our defense, so we're going to play our defense the way we always play.”

After their hot start from the 3-point line, the Gamecocks went 0 of 8 from beyond the arc to finish the half and were 8 of 25 for the game.

JSU shot just 31.1 percent from the floor, its lowest percentage of the season.

“Our defense and the way we guarded can take its toll,” said AU coach Bruce Pearl. “We talked to our guys about having great effort and energy. The offense had to work really hard to get open. When they were fresh, they were able to make shots.

“To Jacksonville State's credit, they only turned it over eight times, and they're a hard team to turn over because the ball is always in the guard's hands. They were faster and quicker than we were.”

Pearl stressed the importance of defense in the week leading up to the start of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers had been good for most of the season disrupting opponent’s offenses, but he knew they needed to turn it up a notch if AU was going to make a tournament run.

“That's been what's carried us all season long. That gives us our best chance in a tournament. We stepped up. We played better,” said Pearl. “I thought our impacting ball screens, I don't think that anybody's really jumped out and gobbled those guards up in the ball screen like we did, and we made it hard -- they got a couple runs at the rim, got the ball to the big guy a couple times, but I thought that was really good.”

No. 2 seed Auburn will play No. 7 seed USC or No. 10 seed Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday.