AUBURN | In three losses over the last couple of weeks, Auburn’s fallen short in several different areas.

Texas A&M dominated the Tigers on the board 41-25 and scored 29 second-chance points on 24 offensive rebounds. Alabama was able to penetrate AU’s defense at ease, scoring 52 points in the paint.

Against Tennessee, Auburn’s bench was out-scored 25-3 and AU made just 13 of 22 free throws (.591), shooting under .600 for only the fourth time this season.

But as the Tigers prepare to play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Bruce Pearl is looking for improvement in a different area. He wants AU to generate more points from its transition offense.

“One of the things I would like us to try to do better is see us run the floor more,” said Pearl. “I'd like to see us be a little better in our transition offense. That would be something I would look to try to see if, during the course of our getting there -- we create some offense from our defense, which leads to transition.

“But can we run after makes and put a little more pressure on the transition defense? I'd like to try to do that a little bit more.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Pearl, who puts a huge emphasis on defense throughout the offseason and season, doesn’t want to see improvement there too.

“We've got to improve defensively across the board,” said Pearl. “I thought that Tennessee and Ole Miss did a really good job of attacking our closeouts, and we’ve got to do a better job of keeping people in front.”

No. 1 seed Auburn will play the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Alabama State and Saint Francis on Thursday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:50 p.m. CT on CBS.