Auburn didn't have much time to breathe last week.

Following their midweek loss to the Crimson Tide, the Tigers didn't return home until 2 a.m. the following morning, according to Bruce Pearl. They couldn't sit down and assess their deflating offensive performance — their worst since getting demolished by Clemson in the 2018 Round of 32 — as much as Pearl wanted to.

Then it was back on the road again to Gainesville, where Auburn was chomped by the Gators, 69-47, shooting its worst in a game in four years.

And when Pearl and his team had enough time Monday to break down the film and analyze their weaknesses, it was a slap in the face.

"The scouting report’s out," Pearl said Tuesday.

Pearl thinks the target on Auburn's back — certainly present when they became the No. 4 team in the country last week — has grown even larger since it lost by a combined 41 points. The SEC smells blood and will do anything for a leg up on one the conference's best.

"When you are at this point of the season, they know what we’re doing," Pearl said. "They know your tendencies, they know my tendencies, they know the players’ tendencies, and can we then do something else once they take away the stuff that we’re good at? That’s, probably, offensively what we’re struggling with the most."

Auburn got the looks it wanted against Florida, Pearl said. Like the Alabama loss, shots under the rim were plentiful available, but not executed.

As Pearl explained, teams understand Auburn is better from inside the arc than it is from outside. Alabama rotated well, allowing the Tigers to drive inside while setting feet well to draw charges. Florida created a wall of trees around the rim, and Auburn couldn't score overtop of it.

It's also been too much hero ball for Pearl's liking — particularly against the Gators, when Auburn produced just seven assisted baskets.

"I think the biggest thing that we focused on this week is playing off of two feet, doing a better job of getting guys shots within the framework of the offense," Pearl said. "I thought we had one of our best practices we’ve had all year long yesterday. We need more assists. We need more playmaking. We need to get guys more shots. We need to get each other more shots. And of course we need to make shots. But I think we can get better shots by trying to do a better job of playmaking for each other.

But even with the offense that has been, at times recently, inept, the deficits have been manageable. Auburn trailed by just six at the half to Florida by forcing 12 first-half turnovers. But as the shooting stayed cold, that lack of confidence snowballed into other areas — defense and free-throw shooting the primary victims.

"You can’t let the fact that we’re not doing well offensively affect everything else," Pearl said. "Players are human. If they’re missing shots and they’re not scoring, they don’t feel like they’re playing well. We’ve got to continue to defend and play with great effort and energy in spite of the fact that we’re just not an explosive offensive team.

"Again, we talked about that magic wand. There’s not going to be any magic wand this week. Can we play a little better at home? Can we made a few more shots? That’ll help us when it comes to trying to win these games."

Auburn hopes home-court advantage will translate into an improved offensive product, with the first of its two straight home games set for Wednesday against South Carolina at 6 p.m.

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