Missouri basketball fended off a fourth-quarter surge from Auburn to secure its 13th win of the season, winning the Tiger-on-Tiger showdown 84-74. Missouri now moves to 3-1 in conference play and 1-0 against Steven Pearl, who recently took over Auburn's program in place of his father Bruce. 

After a disastrous end to non-conference play in which Missouri lost its final two Power Four games by a combined 63 points seems like ages ago, and the Tigers look poised to re-enter NCAA Tournament conversations. 

Here's Three takeaways from the Tigers' victory. 

More specifically, they unlock Mark Mitchell. But in a sense, Mitchell is Missouri: he far and away leads the team in points per game and has the most 20-point games of any Tiger this season. He thrives when attacking driving lanes toward the paint, but those lanes are only open if Tigers' surrounding Mitchell are knocking down shots from beyond the arc. 

For the first stint of the game, those deep shots were not falling. Missouri began the game 1-for-7 from 3-point range — Pierce having the only make — and was trailing. Pierce continued making shots, finishing the game 5-for-7 from deep. Stone also shot well, knocking down two of his five 3-pointers. 

Their spacing allowed Mitchell to score an efficient 20 points, and more importantly, Missouri's offense to hit a natural flow, leading to an eventual victory. 

In addition, Stone actually poured in a game-high 22 points, his second game with 20 or more points this season. He makes a strong argument as the best perimeter scorer on the team, and can do it in any fashion; including but not limited to from deep, the pick-and-roll and transition. 

The Tigers moved to 11-0 at home with their toppling of Auburn. Missouri is now 3-0 against Power Four opponents at home, but 1-4 against the same filter on the road. The trend goes back to last season as well — Missouri was 18-2 at Mizzou Arena while 3-7 on the road.

It's not just the cheers and support that help the Tigers play better at home — it's the timing of them. Missouri's identity revolves around a slow-grind defense, wearing opponents down until the timing is right to make a play and run in transition. Sometimes, that takes quite a long time, and the Tigers end up in multiple-minute stretches of stalling halfcourt offensive sets. 

When that dry spell breaks, though, Missouri fans are still energetic as ever. One transition opportunity and the crowd at Mizzou Arena is still as loud as ever, feeding into the Tigers as a sort of fuel for the momentum they so successfully utilize. 

Being at home is perfect for Missouri's style of play. 

Missouri made just 21 of its 31 free-throw attempts. Luckily for the Tigers, their opponents shot nearly equally as poor, making just 20 of 28. Shooting 68% from the line won't cut it going forward. 

Mitchell, although the star of the offense, shot an ugly 6-for-14 from the charity stripe. The rest of the team shot a combined 14-for-15. Mitchell was the only one struggling tonight — which is irregular — but he as a high-quantity free-throw shooter, has to convert at a higher rate. Otherwise, he'll be leaving free points off the board. 

When games dwindle down to the final minutes — intentional foul territory — Missouri's lead isn't quite as safe as other teams' with the same point advantage would be. The Tigers' free-throw woes allow opponents to hang around late into games by beating the Tigers in the department. If Missouri shot just slightly better from the line, it could save itself a whole lot of late-game chaos going forward.