AUBURN | Auburn is 9-1 and ranked 19th in the country.

But Bruce Pearl is clearly not happy. In fact, he appeared frustrated after Wednesday night’s 72-64 win over Georgia State at Neville Arena.

“This team, in the last three games — against Colgate, Memphis and now Georgia State — is not playing well enough to beat the teams left on our schedule,” said Pearl. “We have got to improve in order to beat the teams that are left on our schedule.

“The last three games that we've played, we've not played well enough to be able to continue to win. There's got to be a level of accountability for our players to be able to make plays on both ends of the floor.”

The Tigers came out lethargic against GSU, trailing 31-28 at the half and being out-rebounded 35-26 for the game. In an 82-73 loss to Memphis Saturday, AU was out-rebounded 43-32. Both opponents combined for 29 offensive rebounds.

Three-point shooting has also been a struggle with AU combining to go 9 of 36 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc in the last two games.

Despite forcing more turnovers in both games, AU gave up more fast-break points to Georgia State and Memphis as both opponents were able to beat AU down the floor after made baskets on multiple occasions.

“We're not very physical,” said Pearl. “We didn't get 50-50 balls. Georgia State was quicker to the ball than we were. Faster. More athletic. Our athletes have got to show up.”

Auburn’s schedule is about to get much tougher. The Tigers will travel to the West coast to play USC Sunday and Washington Wednesday before the start of conference play Dec. 28.

The Tigers open the SEC slate by hosting Florida but then play four of the next six games on the road.

Auburn enters this crucial portion of the season with Pearl still searching for answers on how to get his team to play better.

“We'll work at it. If I had that answer, we'd be playing better than the last three games. I obviously don't have that answer,” he said.

“I think our players need to have a level of accountability. That's the best way to do it. I know they can play better. I know they're better. They've got to show it on both ends of the floor.”

Tip-off at the Galen Center is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.