AUBURN — Auburn basketball keeps showing something new.

First it was the defense. That's been a constant all-season long; the Tigers closed the regular season with the No. 5 adjusted defensive efficiency in the country, per KenPom. Then it was the shot-making, with Auburn connecting on 45.1% of its three-pointers over its last five games.

The point guards have started to come around, too.

Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson have united for 25 assists and seven turnovers since losing to Kentucky on Feb. 17, and the Tigers have a 4-1 record over that stretch with a combined score of 452-383 in those games. The one loss was a single-digit defeat at SEC-winner Tennessee.

And in its latest victory — a 92-78 win over Georgia in Neville Arena on Saturday — Auburn showed two more things. The first being other players' abilities to distribute the ball when Holloway and Donaldson aren't. All-SEC center Johni Broome and backup power forward finished with five dimes apiece, and starting PF Jaylin Williams added four.

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"Assists are fun," Williams said. "Especially a good pass. An assist usually turns into a 3-ball or like a crazy dunk or something like that. Assists will change the game. When you're playing like that (with) everyone involved, it's fun."

No more was the passing on display than in the closing seconds of the first half. Georgia's Silas Demary Jr. missed a free throw with four seconds on the game clock. The ball fell into the lap of Broome, got kicked ahead to Chad Baker-Mazara and found itself in the hands of Williams, getting flushed down for a buzzer-beating dunk to extend the lead just before the break.

"I saw Johni get the rebound and I just took off," Williams said. "I didn't even look to see where the ball was or anything."

The second thing Auburn showed was that it has an elite shooter who can take over a game at any moment in Florida International transfer Denver Jones. It's no secret Jones can shoot — he entered Saturday making 38.4% of his 3-pointers — but he had his best performance of the season with seven made triples against the Bulldogs.

All of his 3-pointers were assisted on by a player in the front court.

"We honestly hope they double Johni down there," Jones said. "Just because we know we're going to have open shots. If I don't have the open shot my first pass, we're going to keep swinging and we're going to get the right look."

Pearl added of Jones' shooting: "It makes us more dangerous, and a better coach would've gotten him 14 shots (from deep) instead of just nine. For real. That's on me. But the thing I love about Denver is he's locked in defensively, he's locked into scouting reports (and) he's locked into his work ethic. He's being rewarded because he does all the right things almost all the time."

Auburn secured a double bye in the SEC Tournament by beating Georgia. The No. 4 Tigers will play in Nashville on Friday, and their opponent will be one of No. 5 South Carolina, No. 12 Arkansas or No. 13 Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks beat Mississippi State in overtime and Vanderbilt topped Florida on the final day of the regular season, and Arkansas took Alabama to the brink in Tuscaloosa: "Vandy beat Florida? Phew," Pearl said. "(That) tells you a lot about the league."

"You look at those three teams right there, you look at how all three of those teams are playing, they're all playing well," Pearl added. "We'll be ready for them."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser, He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball showing different ways to win ahead of postseason