AUBURN | It was just Bruce Pearl and his players. Auburn’s sixth-year head coach cleared everyone else out of the locker room and closed the door.

The 13th-ranked Tigers were trailing Tennessee 41-33 at halftime and had allowed the Volunteers to shoot 52.0 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from 3-point range, and were being out-rebounded 19-13 at home.

“I got after my team at halftime,” Pearl said. “I was very upset with our lack of effort and energy, our toughness, and Tennessee really outplayed us.”

The message was received in a big way.

Auburn forced 13 turnovers and held UT to 37.5 percent shooting in the second half to erase a 17-point deficit and win 73-66. The Tigers out-scored UT 40-25 after the break including 36-12 over the final 14:31.

Leading the charge was Samir Doughty, who finished with a team-high 22 points along with four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

His backcourt mate, J’Von McCormick, was even more impressive on the defensive end. The senior finished with eight points, two rebounds, four assists and a career-high five steals.

“We just tried to turn our intensity up by getting in the passing lanes more, fight through ball screens, fight through off-ball screens and situations like that. I mean all that is a part of us winning, and we have to do that to win games,” Doughty said.

All the turnovers in the second half led to a lot of easy buckets and a crucial 18-0 run in which AU held UT without a field goal for 7:11. Auburn shot 50 percent from the floor and made 4 of 6 3-pointers after the break after making just 3 of 14 3-pointers in the first half.

“We got after Tennessee, we turned them over, which created some transition,” Pearl said.

Auburn finished the game with 18 steals and 27 points off 24 Tennessee turnovers.

“The way Samir Doughty and J’Von McCormick stepped up and played on both ends of the floor made the difference,” Pearl said. “You turn a team over 24 times, you have 18 steals, it tells you the kind of fight and the kind of character you have.”

Auburn, which improves to 23-4 overall and 10-4 in the SEC, hosts Ole Miss Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.