Auburn this season has long coveted the jump, as declared by its head coach, from a "good" team to a "very good" team.

After a 75-66 win over then-No. 13 Kentucky on Saturday, Bruce Pearl anointed his 2019-20 squad with the new label of "very good." And while Pearl isn't going back on his declaration, he does think this team still has a ton of room to grow in a handful of areas. It's more like a laundry list, actually.

"We don't shoot it very good," Pearl said Monday.

"We don't shoot it from 3 very good."

"We don't shoot it from the free-throw line very good."

"We're struggling to finish around the basket."

"We've got to get better offensively."

"We've got to handle the ball better."

But despite all that, Auburn is still 19-2 (6-2 SEC), with a chance to compete for a conference title if it keeps up its pace of winning down the stretch of the SEC slate.

Pearl isn't misguided in his current gripes with his team, though. In terms of shooting percentages from 3-point range and the foul line, Auburn certainly isn't elite. And while the assist-to-turnover ratio improved against the Wildcats, it's still 1.02 for the season, ranking 131st in college basketball.

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STAT SNAPSHOT: Where Auburn stood in national, SEC statistics prior to Kentucky matchup

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"We've got to run our stuff better to continue to get to the point where we can keep playing very good," Pearl said.

But Auburn's imperfections have often been negated this season by experience and perseverance, evident in its 19-point comeback at Ole Miss and its 24-12 run to end the game and seal the victory against Kentucky.

"We just make up with it I think with some effort and energy and the kids being —working together and working hard," Pearl said. "They’ve done a great job."

Still, shooting is important. Auburn likely can't get off to the slow starts it has been on the road against Arkansas on Tuesday and expect to come out victorious.

The Razorbacks are 26th in all of college basketball in opponent effective field-goal percentage, and are particularly strong at defending the 3-point arc. They have the No. 1 3-point defense in the country, holding teams to 24.7% from beyond the arc — 2 percentage points better than the second-ranked 3-point defense.

The Tigers, on the other end of the spectrum, have started 1-for-39 from 3-point range in their four SEC road games this year (0-for-10 at Miss State, 0-for-8 at Alabama, 1-for-10 at Florida, 0-for-11 at Ole Miss).

Just another statistic to nullify.

"I think we have overcome a lot of statistics so far this year," Pearl said. "I mean, I look at our league stats and our league stats look like a team that’s somewhere in the middle of the league or even somewhere in the lower half of the league, so statistically, we don’t make any sense."

Auburn tips off against the Razorbacks at 6 p.m. CST. The Hogs opened as 1.5-point favorites.

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