Auburn got a chance to look itself in the mirror this week.

For the first time this season, the Tigers’ film session in preparation for their next game provided a look at an opponent they’ve already played against, as they got a chance to review the tape from their Jan. 4 loss at Georgia before hosting the Bulldogs in a rematch at Neville Arena on Wednesday (6 p.m. on SEC Network). It was a necessary review, and though it couldn’t have been easy to relive that 76-64 loss in Athens, Ga., it provided Auburn a chance to see how far it has come in the last four weeks — and how much work still remains for Bruce Pearl’s team entering the final full month of the regular season.

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“We’ve got to play better to beat Georgia this time,” Pearl said Tuesday. “…We’re playing better now than we did (when) we were there. That’s a good thing….We’re playing better than we were, but in some ways, they are too.”

Auburn’s loss to Georgia last month was a tough one against a coach that has gotten the best of Pearl’s teams over the years. Mike White’s teams have won seven of their 10 matchups against Pearl’s Auburn teams since the 2015-16 season, with his first meeting against Auburn in his new role at Georgia maintaining that trend.

Of course, that wasn’t the reason why Auburn lost at Stegeman Coliseum. The Tigers struggled with turnovers (11) and gave up 11 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points for the Bulldogs. Mostly, though, Auburn struggled to slow down Georgia’s backcourt tandem of Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo.

That duo combined for 43 points, including a career-high tying 26 from Roberts. The Bradley transfer shot 8-of-16 from the floor, but Auburn struggled to stay in front of him as he drew eight fouls and went 9-of-12 from the free-throw line, helping Georgia finish 22-of-32 from the charity stripe that evening.

“He and Oquendo are tough covers, really hard to stay in front of, big guards, get downhill,” Pearl said. “Georgia does a great job of not fouling; they get to the line a lot, and they don’t send people there a lot. That’s one of their statistical successes. So, we have preparation for Georgia, obviously, the focus has got to be for us to be able to guard those guards better.”

That’s something that Auburn (16-5, 6-2 SEC) has struggled with in each of its five losses this season. Along with the big games from Roberts and Oquendo last month, opposing guards have put up game-high individual scoring efforts in the Tigers’ four other losses. Memphis’ Kendric Davis had 27 points in Auburn’s first loss of the season, while USC’s Boogie Ellis had 28 against Auburn in that December matchup.

The trend continued in Auburn’s back-to-back losses last week. Tyrece Radford scored 30 in Texas A&M’s win at Neville Arena last Wednesday, while Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 (while draining 7-of-10 3-point attempts) in West Virginia’s win against Auburn on Saturday.

“Every night, at the end of close games, that’s what it’s going to come down to, is your guard play,” Pearl said.

For Auburn that means not just containing opposing guards but getting consistent production from its own backcourt.

Wendell Green Jr. is Auburn’s leading scorer this season (13.6 points per game), but he struggled in the loss to Georgia last month, shooting 2-of-12 from the floor and committing four turnovers while finishing with seven points. He also had a tough game in the loss to West Virginia, going 2-of-10 for nine points with four turnovers and five assists. K.D. Johnson, who hasn’t provided the same kind of scoring punch he did last season, is coming off his best game since that Memphis loss on Dec. 10. He scored 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, with three steals and three rebounds in the loss at West Virginia, and teammates believe he is “getting his mojo back a little” entering the homestretch of the season.

Auburn will need Johnson and Green to win their positional matchups to avoid a repeat of the team’s first meeting with Georgia. While the scoring certainly helps, it all begins on the defensive side and bottling up guards like Roberts and Oquendo.

“Last year, we were a little bit more explosive offensively,” Pearl said. “We just could score more points. You know, right now defensively, we’re still 20th in the nation in defensive efficiency, so to be there defensively without Walker (Kessler) or Jabari (Smith), who are both really good defensive players, is really good. So, we still got to hang our hat on that, so therefore we can’t give up easy stuff in transition. We got to get all five guys back; we got to do a better job, a good job of guarding in the halfcourt — and have to win games in the halfcourt.

“Therefore, it’s not going to be quite up and down, and we’re not going to force as many turnovers, we’re not going to hopefully turn the ball over as much ourselves. Therefore, it comes down to guard play.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.