Everything Bruce Pearl said after No. 19 Auburn's second loss of the season

For Auburn’s first true road game this season, the Tigers traveled to California and fought hard but ultimately fell short against USC, 71-74, on Sunday evening at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Although the Tigers had a strong first half, foul trouble and turnovers were a constant battle in the second half.

With just one more non-conference game remaining, Auburn is now 9-2 on the season. The Tigers will face Washington on Wednesday night and the game will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Network.

RELATED: First Thoughts on No. 19 Auburn’s loss at USC

Here is what head coach Bruce Pearl had to say about tonight’s game.

Opening Statements

“I thought we played better tonight. We gave ourselves a chance. We talked after the Georgia State game. I felt like we needed to play better to have a chance to win these games now and I thought we did.”

“Obviously turnovers killed us. Wendell Green tried to go, just really, really couldn’t. I thought Tre Donaldson came in and did a great job, but obviously they got into foul trouble. I had to play Zep at that point, position. He played a lot there last year and he did really well, but that was another change.

“The real shift of the second half was, I think, when USC was pressing us and we turned the ball over a couple of times, attacking pressure and usually that makes us better. So, there’s a point that we didn’t do a better job there.”

“The first half was a really clean first half. Then the second half, we got ourselves in where fouls were 8-1, 9-2. Fouls are mistakes, so, if we made that many mistakes early, that really affected the next 15 minutes of the game. We were in deep foul trouble and they were 20 for 25 from the foul line in the second half. They only shot two free throws in the first half running the same offense.”

Auburn improvements made tonight

Communication and accountability

“I thought we communicated well. I thought the coaches had good preparation this week with a good game plan. I think we executed for the most part and we played a lot better. We’ve got to be accountable for our turnovers. We’ve got to be accountable for- who did Boogie score on? At the end of the day, when we find that matchup, is there any inconsistency there? Who got scored on in our one-on-one closeouts and that was the difference.

“But look, I’m pleased with this team right now if we can continue to grow. We’ve made a lot of progress since last week against Memphis.”

Bruce Pearl’s overall thoughts

“…I thought we executed better, we got some really good looks. We rebounded better, we were more physical. We were a little bit more bought in on the game plan. I thought the kids’ attitudes on the bench were great, so that was extremely positive.”

Foul Trouble and free throw tactics

Bruce Pearl on needing to improve when it comes to fouls

“Again, it was different, each half was different. The key is to not get yourself in that kind of foul trouble. Fouls are errors and mistakes and we fouled them and put ourselves in that situation.”

On Auburn’s plan to purposely miss free throws

“Well, we actually tried to miss a couple of free throws. Chris Moore was supposed to miss one and KD was supposed to miss one and we made them both. We were trying to get a rebound and a tap. But, I thought the kids, again, really, really competed. We pressured them, we turned them over, we gave ourselves a chance. I didn’t have any timeouts, which very rarely happens. On that last possession there, again, because we had different people in the wrong places, Zep kind of crossed in front of him and KD didn’t get as clean a look as he might’ve gotten. I thought we did a lot of great things down the stretch do give ourselves a chance to win the game.”

Auburn player updates

How a “healthy Wendell (Green Jr.)” could have helped tonight

“I think having a healthy Wendell would have allowed us to attack the pressure and hopefully hurt pressure. No excuses, but obviously it hurt us.”

How Jaylin Williams is doing after his hard fall

“He got banged up, got his bell rung. We’ll know a lot more tomorrow.”