AUBURN — Whether it's a thundering dunk from Allen Flanigan, a deep 3-pointer from Wendell Green Jr. or a rejection at the rim by Johni Broome, the response from the crowd at Neville Arena never disappoints.

It's a transactional affair. Auburn basketball makes a big play, the fans roar. Rinse and repeat.

The system also feeds into itself. For every shot the Tigers sink, the reaction from the Auburn faithful grows. And if an opposing team is struggling to score, you better believe the pressure will be palpable every time a visiting player has the ball in his hands.

Neville Arena is a venue many teams come to, but few leave happy. The Tigers haven't lost at home since February 2021; their streak of consecutive victories in front of their student section, The Jungle, as it's called, is up to 28 after they picked up a 69-63 win over Mississippi State on Saturday.

It's the second-longest active streak in the country, behind only Gonzaga's 76 straight at home.

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The game against the Bulldogs (12-5, 1-4 SEC) was the first with students back on campus for the spring semester, which means the energy was back in full force. No. 22 Auburn (14-3, 4-1) had to make do without its crowd at top strength against Georgia State, Florida and Arkansas in the interim between semesters, which it did, winning those games by a combined 24 points.

But the students are back, and Neville Arena is even more imposing.

"The last couple games, like during the break definitely, it wasn't as packed," senior forward Jaylin Williams said after beating Mississippi State. "But to have them there, to help us when we were turning the ball over, just to make noise and just be there and just be loud, like how The Jungle always is."

Williams finished with a game-high 21 points against the Bulldogs, including 13 that came in the first 7:16 of the game. He sank his first shot, a 3-pointer, just over a minute in and didn't miss until he was already up to 11 points, connecting on two more shots from long range and one from inside the paint.

He also hit a couple more 3-pointers in the second half to finish 5-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc and 8-for-15 from the floor. The 21 points were a season-high and the eighth time he's scored in double figures since the season began.

"It's one of the best games I've ever seen him play," coach Bruce Pearl said of Williams. "Everyone will point to the five threes, but it was as hard and as physical as I've ever seen him play. I mean the kid (on Mississippi State), Cameron Matthews, he's one of the biggest, strongest athletes in college basketball and he's just a monster man.

"Jaylin did everything he possibly could physically to keep him at bay and keep him off the glass. If you want to give anybody credit for winning this game, give it to Jaylin Williams."

For each play Williams made, the crowd erupted louder and louder, putting a battery in the back of a player who already doesn't have issues with motor.

The fans were pivotal down the stretch, too, as the Bulldogs made one last push. Mississippi State cut Auburn's lead down to four points with just over two minutes remaining. Williams had just fouled out and Broome wasn't far behind him with four infractions credited to him.

Green would save Auburn, hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key and scoring eight more points to put Mississippi State's comeback to bed. The fans losing their minds all the while.

“It was great to have The Jungle alive and well," Pearl said. "And it obviously elevated our play.”

The Tigers have their flaws, no doubt. They don't have the star power of someone like Alabama's freshman phenom Brandon Miller, or even Jabari Smith of last season, but they do have The Jungle, and that's proven to be a pretty good asset over the past 23 months.

So, good luck to anybody coming in trying to break the streak. They'll need it.

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

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What makes Auburn's Neville Arena so dang tough? Just ask the Tigers