Takeaways from Auburn basketball's 72-64 win over Georgia State

Auburn avoided a meltdown following their first loss of the season to Memphis last week, recovering from a 31-28 halftime deficit to defeat Georgia State 0-0.

The No. 19 Tigers (9-1, 0-0 SEC) had another poor shooting night, as has been the standard - an impressive 51% from the floor because of the second-half resurgence, but a mere 25% % from deep (surprisingly their fifth-best outing of the season in ten games).

Jaylin Williams led the way with 20 points, and Wendell Green Jr. eclipsed 1,000 career points with his 17 on the night. Johni Broome was the only other Tiger to finish in double-figures with 13.

The team racked up 11 blocks - no surprise there for the second-best shot-blocking team in the nation.

Everything ramps up from here for Bruce Pearl's squad. Here are four takeaways from tonight's win.

Georgia State was undersized, and elected to foul - a lot

This is nothing new to Auburn fans. Physical defense and lots of fouling is how opponents have usually elected to slow down Bruce Pearl teams in the past. Historically speaking, Pearl's teams have not been prolific at the foul line, and the response (most notably in SEC play) has been to apply pressure and foul.

Georgia State had a season-high 25 times. The Tigers got to the line 30 times (the second time that has happened this year) and hit 19 free throws. That opponent free-throw rate will lose a game.

A Jaylin Williams masterclass

Williams finished with a season-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three blocks... and he did nothing to step out of his element to collect those numbers.

It was the same ol' for Williams, who knocked down a few floaters in the paint and hit a couple of corner threes; it was his typical offensive arsenal, that soft touch around the rim on one end and aggression on the other that helped carry the Tigers to a win.

With the inefficiency elsewhere, it's refreshing to see Jaylin have such a good night.

Auburn's offensive stagnation has produced an uncharacteristic style of basketball

Did you know Auburn is 10th in the SEC in assists per game? That's the worst mark in league play for the Tigers since Bruce Pearl's inaugural season on the Plains in 2014-15. They had 12 assists against the Panthers tonight.

I'm not quite sure what to blame the poor shooting on, whether that be personnel issues, scheme, or matchups, but the assists are a direct correlation with how Pearl gets his Tigers to operate their offense. It goes against the near decade of data he has set up at Auburn - in fact, three times have the Tigers failed to finish in the top half of the SEC in assists under him - and two of those were his first two years.

Bruce Pearl teams (normally) share the basketball.

Something isn't clicking behind the scenes. Not questioning team chemistry - a strength of Pearl's coaching ability - but there is a disconnect somewhere.

A look into the crystal ball shows a murky future for the Tigers

Auburn got the win. Nice. But 10 games into the season, and the Tigers have yet to buck the "poor shooting, Iowa football-esque offense, ugly dog fight" narrative that has dictated all but three of their contests.

The look-ahead on the schedule is immediately followed by concern; Auburn travels to play at USC and Washington before opening up SEC play at home against Florida. Folks, there is no reprieve after this one.

The Tigers have to do something soon to fix their offensive problems - one-third of the way into the season and it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Buckle in for some grit and grind basketball.

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