Pearl: Tigers need to step up to higher level

AUBURN | It was a good start. A really good start.

But if No. 4 Auburn wants to maintain its success for the second half of the season, it’ll need to step up its play starting this Saturday at Florida.

“Very proud of our guys for starting the season so well, beating the opponents on our schedule that we’re supposed to beat which isn’t always easy to do. And now as we get into the meat and potatoes of our SEC schedule, we’ve got to be able to step up and play at a higher level.

“We’ve got to shoot it at a higher level, execute at a higher level, continue to defend and rebound, and try to get better as we get through this grind.”

The Tigers started the season 15-0 and 3-0 in the SEC before Wednesday night’s loss at Alabama, which included 21 turnovers and just 31.7 percent shooting from the floor.

Auburn is 26th in the country in KenPom’s offensive efficiency with an adjusted rating of 109.9, but that efficiency falls to 104.4 in conference games, which would correspond with a 95th national ranking.

“Our offensive efficiency numbers have not been as good since we entered league play, playing against better teams,” Pearl said. “It's funny. I think my assistant coaches or maybe to the casual eye — we’ve missed some shots we should make. But that's just not the way I look at it. I look at it like I've got to do a better job getting us better shots. And so, it's a combination of one of those two things.”

Senior Samir Doughty had one of the worst games of his career against the Tide with five points on 2 of 11 shooting, no rebounds and a career-high seven turnovers. He was limited by an Achilles injury but should be back close to 100 percent against the Gators.

“I really worried about it at halftime,” Pearl said. “I mean, he limped pretty heavily off the court. And then he was in the training room the whole time I was talking to the team. He could hear me, but he was still in the training room. And I think it affected him some. But I was expecting him to be really sore coming back today, and he wasn't. He's been in for lots of treatment, and it's not a problem, not a factor.”

Having Doughty back healthy and performing at a high level could be a key to Auburn’s success at Florida.

“I mean we ask him to do a lot,” Pearl said. “He and Isaac (Okoro) are our two best defensive guards. And they both take great pride in their ability to guard. They expend a lot of energy defensively. And then we count on him to score. And make plays off the bounce. We count on him to shoot the ball. And then we count on him to play backup point guard and get us into where we're supposed to be.

“That's a lot of responsibility. I'd say nobody has more on his plate as far as given everything we ask him to do than Samir.”

Tip-off at the O’Connell Center is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT on CBS.