AUBURN | The run seemed to come out of nowhere.

No. 21 Auburn couldn’t shoot straight for the first 27 minutes of the game before putting together a 15-0 run to take control and eventually beat USF 58-52 Friday night at Amalie Arena.

The Tigers improve to 3-0 on the season.

“Just energy,” said KD Johnson of the run. “That’s all we needed, just somebody to come out with energy and be physical, get down to do the dirty work and those 50-50 balls — times where the ball’s loose, we need to get those and get out and score and come back.”

Auburn trailed USF 40-31 after shooting 2 of 12 from the floor to start the second half before a dunk by Jaylin Williams with 12:45 left sparked the rally.

Devan Cambridge had two dunks during the run, Johnson a steal and layup, Jabari Smith a 3-pointer and Walker Kessler one of his three blocked shots.

USF was held to 0 of 10 from the floor and didn’t score for 6:09.

“We got some back-cuts and took advantage of their pressure a little bit,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “Defensively, I thought our changing defenses bothered them. Mixed in the pressure with the man and we showed some possessions of zone that I think did a nice job keeping them in front.”

The Tigers began the game making just 2 of 20 3-pointers before hitting 3 of 6 down the stretch. AU out-rebounded USF 44-33 including 26-15 in the second half, and out-scored them 28-16 in the paint.

Johnson led Auburn with 15 points and two steals. Zep Jasper had 13 points and Smith nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Williams added eight points and five rebounds off the bench while Kessler had five points and seven rebounds.

“We got beat to a lot of 50/50 balls in the first half and our guys were definitely more locked in and more engaged,” said Pearl of the second half. “I thought we did a better job on the boards and obviously they didn’t get the same second-chance points in the second half that they got in the first.”

The Tigers got off to a poor start trailing 25-10 with 5:26 remaining in the first half after shooting 3 of 17 from the floor and committing eight turnovers. A 10-0 run helped AU get back in the game and go into halftime down 33-26.

“Down 15 on the road, you come back in win it … shows a lot of character,” Pearl said. “You beat a good team on the road, it counts. It counts for more. So this will be a win that will help us.”

Auburn returns to action Wednesday against No. 23 UConn in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. The Tigers will also play Thursday against either Michigan State or Loyola Chicago and Friday against Baylor, Syracuse, Arizona State or VCU.