Auburn is 3-0, but far from satisfied with its start to the season.

Bruce Pearl wanted his squad — which jumped from No. 24 to No. 22 in the AP poll this week — to get tested and "exposed" early in the season. A last-second win over South Alabama on Tuesday helped with that, but Auburn still has a ways to go to be up to Pearl's standards.

"It's nice to be able to win along the way," Pearl said. "But obviously we've got to get a lot better if we're going to be able to beat the people that are on our schedule later on in the season."

Something that jumped out to Pearl on Tuesday — when they were facing what is technically the most veteran team in the nation in South Alabama — was that very few of his 2019-20 Tigers, including the starters, had been on the floor in clutch situations during their Auburn careers. Seniors Samir Doughty and Anfernee McLemore are probably the only ones, he said.

"To go through that experience and survive it, if we can learn from it, is really valuable," Pearl said.

After playing two of their first three games away from Auburn Arena, the Tigers return to the Plains on Friday for what is, at least on paper, one of their lowest-rated opponents of the season. The only team on Auburn's schedule ranked lower in KenPom than Cal State Northridge (No. 211) is Lehigh, which Auburn will face Dec. 21 and is 225th in the advanced metrics.

Not to mention, the status of CSUN's best player — power forward Lamine Diane, who was the Big West's Freshman of the Year and overall Player of the Year last season — is still up in the air. Diane was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for the first semester due to academics. The school is still appealing and it's possible Diane could return if that appeal is successful. Pearl has no way of knowing if that could be Friday.

"So we'll prepare to face him and just have to continue to grow," Pearl said. "It's about us as much as anything.”

After playing three games in eight days, Pearl has been taking things slow since the South Alabama win. He said Auburn arrived back from Mobile at approximately 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, and many players had class at 8 a.m.

Pearl had the starters warm up, watch some film, then leave for a half day of Wednesday's practice. He said he was able to focus on the bench players the most he has so far this season after it outscored South Alabama's 32-9.

Odds are many of those bench players will get their shot Friday night, as Auburn is favored by 23 against CSUN. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. CST on SEC Network.

"We’re a ways away from where we need to be to be competitive," Pearl said. "But we’ve been good enough to win."