HOUSTON | With 15:45 left to play, Auburn was down 41-32 and only scored nine points in the last 11 minutes of gameplay.

The following possession, Houston's defense broke down and gave Chaney Johnson an open lane to the basket.

Johnson went up for the wide-open dunk but instead hit back iron and it went flying into the back court.

Against a suffocating Houston defense, it felt like nothing could go right for Auburn at that point. But that miss was the turning point.

After that point, Auburn immediately responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one.

And after some back-and-forth scoring, Auburn took the lead with 5:14 to go, its first lead in 20 minutes of action before eventually pulling out a 74-69 win over Houston from the Toyota Center.

"We preached all week that it's a 40-minute game," said Tahaad Pettiford. "It's not 20. Just because we're down, it doesn't mean we're not gonna have a run and come back and do what we have to do. We just kept pushing until the clock hit zero."

Pettiford, alongside Johni Broome, carried the Tigers in the second half.

All Bruce Pearl could do was praise the two post game.

"Proud of these guys," Pearl said. "I love this guy (Johni), and I'm falling in love with this guy (Tahaad)."

Against KenPom's top-rated defense, the Tigers scored 46 points and posted 1.533 points per possession in the second half. The Tigers also shot 57 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep.

How did that turnaround happen? Give credit to Auburn's assistants.

"I can't say enough about our coaching staff and our preparation," Pearl said. "First of all, Steven Pearl had the scout, just an incredible game plan. He is ready. Mike Burgomaster called every offensive play in the second half. I went with every play he put forward. And we did a pretty good job designing some plays this week."

It wasn't just Auburn's offense that clutched up in the second half.

LJ Cryer, Houston's best offensive player, was held to six points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Who was responsible for that? Denver Jones.

"Denver Jones is one of the best defensive guards in the country and nobody talks about it, but I'm going to," Pearl said. "Denver Jones is one of the best defensive guards in the country. He is big, strong, physical, fast, powerful and he wants to win."