AUBURN | During his pre-tournament press conference Wednesday, Bruce Pearl said he wanted Auburn to be exposed during the Ft. Myers tip-off so he could better understand the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Gonzaga delivered Pearl exactly what he asked for Friday morning.

The top-ranked Zags took advantage of early turnovers and dominated inside in a 90-67 win over the Tigers. Not surprisingly, Pearl saw the biggest issues on defense.

“The exposure was more on the defensive end,” Pearl said. “Really bad ball-screen coverages, which is the ability for them to turn corners, get middle, line us up a little bit."

Gonzaga shot 53 percent from the floor and held a 52-16 edge on points in the paint. They out-rebounded AU 44-32.

Allen Flanigan, who finished with a career-high 20 points, pointed out some issues on the offensive end where AU shot just 37 percent from the floor and committed 17 turnovers.

“Communication was a big part today, just calling out calls, getting the right switches; we had guys falling, even when we called switches and stuff. Communication, boxing out and crashing the glass,” Flanigan said.

The Tigers opened the season with a 96-91 win over St. Joe’s Thursday afternoon. Pearl definitely saw some issues with AU maintaining its tempo on both ends of the floor after a quick turnaround.

While he likes AU’s depth, Peal is also concerned about identifying a best five.

“I think the other thing, too, is that these two games have been a lot like practice. We've got 10 or 11 good players, and the cream hasn't risen to the top because we've got really good balance,” Pearl said. “Now, we'd like to try to find five guys that are a little better than the other five guys. But that has not been the case. Obviously, the personnel has been fairly inconsistent.”

Foul trouble, especially in the first half, forced Pearl to juggle his lineup and rotations. Jaylin Williams, who led AU with 18 points and 11 rebounds against St. Joe's, played 20 minutes and finished with four fouls and no points.

"Even though we had some really strange lineups out there in the first half, the bench actually outplayed the starters in some ways," Pearl said. "Our depth is still our strength. We know a lot more about us now than we did about 24 hours ago, and it's something to build on."

Auburn returns to action Monday at UCF. Tip-off on ESPN+ is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.