Halftime takeaways: Auburn Tigers up 41-31 on 1-seed Houston in NCAA tournament

The Tigers are up double digits on the 1-seed Houston Cougars at halftime.

All things considered, that may be one of the best halves of basketball Auburn has played all season.

The Tigers scored 41 points on the No. 4 defense in the nation and hold a 10-point advantage at the half.

Here are some takeaways from the first twenty minutes of action.

Make you free throws, and you're up by 15

Auburn is currently 4-of-10 from the line. Make you free throws, and you extend the lead to a more comfortable spot at halftime.

To be fair, Houston has also had their struggles at the line thus far, shooting 6-of-11 from the foul line.

Early rebounding edge favored Houston

Houston grabbed a handful of offensive boards at the beginning of the game but has since cooled down. Overall the Tigers have a 21-19 rebounding edge, but the nine offensive boards the Cougars corralled in the first period have hurt Auburn (10 second chance points).

Making sure the Cougs don't dominate on the offensive glass will help Auburn maintain their lead.

Bench Production

Auburn bench currently has 11 points, as opposed to Houston's six. Tre Donaldson is a perfect 5-of-5 from the field in his March Madness career now after draining a pair of three-pointers. Getting solid, consistent minutes out of the backup guards is what Auburn has been missing most of season.

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