AUBURN | Bruce Pearl wasn't going to tell his players to stop shooting the three-point ball. Instead, he just made a simple request that they start making them.

Auburn answered its coach's plea against Vanderbilt, draining 11-of-22 (50 percent) from behind the arc as the No. 2 Tigers pulled away from the Commodores (13-12, 5-8) in the second half for a 94-80 victory. Jabari Smith led the way, making 7-of-10 on his way to a career-high 31 points. The 6-foot-10 forward spoke on what it's like to have Pearl's confidence to launch it from deep.

"That's why you come to Auburn," Smith said. "He has trust in his players. He's going to let you shoot your shot."

Smith missed his first two attempts. Pearl, however, wasn't going to let him hang his head.

"We just kept on yelling at him to shoot it," the coach said.

The performance was much-needed for Auburn (24-2, 12-1 after struggling to shoot from deep the previous six games, making less than 27 percent and a woeful 3-of-22 on Saturday against Texas A&M. Vanderbilt's defense entered the game holding opponents to 29.7 percent from three, but the Commodores had no answer for Smith.

In the last 20 minutes, Smith was solid, making four of his five attempts from three. With 11:35 left and Vanderbilt trimming the lead to four, the freshman took advantage of a bad pass, stole the ball and spotted up, hitting nothing but net to extend the lead to 63-56. Auburn's lead never got below five afterward.

Wendell Green made 2-of-5 from three, finishing with 12 points after scoring only two against the Aggies.

"We ask him to do a lot," Pearl said of the guard. "It was great to see him knock down some three balls."

K.D. Johnson made one on two attempts, while Devan Cambridge posted one on three shots.