MONTGOMERY | It was almost a game of attrition between Auburn and Loyola Chicago on Thanksgiving Day in the Bahamas as both teams came in just a day after fighting in heart-breaking losses. The Tigers, especially, should have had weary legs after battling UConn in a double-overtime thriller on Wednesday afternoon. But somewhere, Bruce Pearl's team dug deep and found a way to overcome some fatigue in a 62-53 victory over the Ramblers.

If you were wondering, Pearl let everyone know how good of a win it was afterward.

"That's an NCAA Tournament team," the Auburn coach said. "That team is picked to win their league ... They've been together for about, you know, three years; we've been together about three months."

But it was Auburn that, as Pearl said, had the best player in the tournament on the floor in Jabari Smith Jr. and best rim protector in Walker Kessler, both of who had a major impact in the win. Kessler, recording his second-straight double-double, was a menace inside the lane, finishing with four blocks while making Loyola players think twice of putting up shots anywhere in his vicinity. He also had five offensive rebounds a day after getting shoved around by UConn's Adama Sanogo.

Smith was efficient and made everything look easy. The freshman finished with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, but his defense once again was solid. In fact, every player that took the floor was defensively sound, helping tire a Ramblers' team that started 6-of-9 from behind the arc.

"I think our defense, we kind of wore them out a little bit," Pearl said. "We play awfully aggressively, and so I think they were just fatigued."

You could see it in the second half as three-point shots refused to go down while the extra passes to the open man came harder to find for Loyola. It resulted in 1-of-10 shooting from three and, after hitting 61.9 percent of their shots in the first half, the Ramblers made just 30.8 percent in the final 20 minutes. For Pearl, it came down to his team's discipline on the defensive end and, of course, getting the ball into the hands of his best player when needed.

Smith was mentally ready for that, even if it was just his fifth collegiate game.

"Coach putting the ball in my hands, not necessarily just to score but to make the right plays, so when I catch it, I'm looking for my shot but also looking for an open man," he said. "So, that was my mindset."

I'm pretty confident he can get used to that happening in the clutch.