AUBURN — For weeks, the Alabama basketball team staggered through SEC play minus an

identity.

Even the two wins that followed four straight losses were a struggle. Just when the suspension of second-leading scorer Tony Mitchell threw in another twist, something clicked.

And the Crimson Tide snapped back into place.

Turning to its depth, Alabama used its retooled formula to rediscover its November rhythm. The result — a 68-50 pounding at Auburn on Tuesday night — brought the smiles back to the short-handed team. It also appeared to turn that troublesome corner that threatened postseason possibilities for the Tide.

Bench production played a huge part in the turnaround for Alabama (16-7, 5-4 SEC). Reserves recorded an average of 31 points in the three-game winnings streak — 44 percent of the total scored in that span.

And the heroes were not necessarily on pregame scouting reports.

Sophomores Carl Engstrom and Charles Hankerson joined freshman Rodney Cooper in supplying energy bumps and scoring surges at critical moments at Auburn.

Engstrom, the 7-footer from Sweden, went first to chip in the most surprising contribution of the night. He hadn’t left the bench in six games, so his entry five minutes into the game was especially notable.

Scoring four quick points gave Engstrom a career high, though it was his defense that changed the game. Auburn center Rob Chubb opened the game with four straight jumpers, but Engstrom’s imposing presence limited his touches after that. Chubb took just two more shots after scoring eight quick points in five minutes and Engstrom added a blocked Varez Ward layup to his night.

“I think (Engstrom) was the one who brought the energy to the team,” Tide starting forward JaMychal Green said. “He came in and did a great job. He was on the boards and he scored four points. That was huge for us.”

The seven minutes he played had been going to Moussa Gueye. The 7-foot junior college transfer didn’t appear in the Auburn win. That was the only major Tuesday change coach Anthony Grant made to the lineup he’s been toying with in recent games.

Hankerson played at least 12 minutes for the third straight game after logging more than nine in just one of the previous 11.

Cooper played 11.7 minutes over the past three games after averaging 3.1 in the first six SEC games.

These two combined to shoot 5-for-7 from 3-point range against Auburn and record personal scoring highs in league play. Hankerson had 14 after making all three of his zone-busting 3s in the first half. The first tied the game at 14 and the third put Alabama ahead 27-21 with 3 minutes left in the period.

Cooper made both of his perimeter jumpers in a three-minute stretch of the second half. His eight-point night was his best since scoring 15 against Alabama A&M on Nov. 23.

The bump in playing time for the once-lightly used reserves meant decreased action for others beyond subtracting Mitchell’s 31 minutes a game.

Freshman Trevor Lacey played exactly 14 minutes in each of the last three games after averaging 32 in the previous six SEC contests. Fellow freshmen Levi Randolph and Nick Jacobs have seen fluctuations in playing time recently. Jacobs played as many as 36 minutes against Ole Miss on Saturday and as few as eight in the Jan. 19 loss to Vanderbilt.

So don’t expect the revolving bench and mass substitutions to stop for the Tide’s 6 p.m., Saturday trip to LSU.

“Right now, for our team, I think it’s a positive,” Grant said Monday. “The thing that we’ve got to get is consistency from our guys on the floor. If it means that we’ve got to look at different combinations on the floor in order to get that consistency, I think we have to be able to do that. I was proud of the effort the other day. We had guys that really stepped up when the opportunity presented itself.”

With its three straight wins, Alabama sits fifth in the SEC race. Of its final seven regular-season games, five involve teams below the Tide in the standings and four of the final six will be in Tuscaloosa.