Throughout No. 8 Auburn’s 11-game win streak between a Dec. 3 loss to Appalachian State and Wednesday’s loss to Alabama, one of the strengths of this team had been its point guard play. Essentially splitting duties at point guard, Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson combined to form one of the most productive and efficient duos in the nation.

But that praise had turned to frustration as Auburn head Bruce Pearl reacted to his team’s loss to 64-58 loss to Mississippi State. It was the second straight loss for Auburn as it finished its two-game road trip 0-2. Auburn is now 16-4 this season and 5-2 in the SEC.

Pearl’s message shifted after the loss. He previously encouraged players to keep shooting, and he believed they would eventually hit the big shot.

“You gotta trust him,” Pearl said of point guard Aden Holloway after Auburn’s loss to Alabama. “Know that he’s gonna make a shot.”

After the loss to Mississippi State, he said his players need to be more selective, and for some, maybe not shoot the ball at all.

“We continue to struggle to shoot it on the road,” Pearl said. “And we continue to, unfortunately, take some of those same shots that we’re just gonna have to either have to make, or some guys are going to have to just put it away. Because it’s hurting our offensive productivity when we’re launching and missing like we are on the road.”

In previous road games, Pearl has said Auburn’s poor shooting performances could change over time, knowing that Auburn was just a few misses on open shots turned to makes from getting an ever-hard-to-come-by win on the road.

But now, five true road games in, bad shooting has become more of a trend. As a result, Auburn missed two chances at a Quad-1 road win this week. A Quad-1 win of any kind has continued to elude Auburn this season.

In Auburn’s three losses in true road games, Auburn has shot a combined 73-189. That’s 38%. Auburn shot 34% in the loss to Mississippi State, which was the lowest rate from the field in any of the three losses.

Separate it for just 3-pointers and the numbers are worse. Auburn is 14-76 in its three road losses.

That’s 18%.

Holloway and Donaldson struggled going a combined 7-25 from the field against Alabama and Mississippi State this week. K.D. Johnson took six attempts from beyond the arc this week. He made none of them. Denver Jones responded by shooting 2-3 on 3-pointers Saturday after going 1-5 against Alabama. Chad Baker-Mazara, who plays a blend guard/forward role, was 4-14 this week and 1-5 on 3-pointers. Jaylin Williams, a forward who had been arguably Auburn’s best player during the 11-game streak, shot 3-11 against Mississippi State including 0-4 of 3s and two missed layups.

“Yeah, more selective for some, put it away for others,” Pearl said when asked about the team’s guard play.

It’s hard to win, and nearly impossible to win on the road, with shooting numbers like that.

Auburn is now 2-3 in its five road games. When it scored 80 or more points, it won. When it didn’t hit that mark, it lost.

Poor shooting has been a common denominator in the losses, and that is in part due to poor decision-making, which Pearl now plans to work on curbing based on his postgame comments.

There are few things tougher in college basketball than winning on the road. Auburn lost to Alabama and Mississippi State by a combined 10 points this week.

Giving up opportunities with its own shooting makes that even tougher. So Pearl will look to help Auburn become more selective, and more efficient.

“I’ve got some guys that just are struggling to shoot the ball, and they need to stop,” Pearl said during his postgame radio appearance. “They just need to stop shooting if they can’t make it. As a result, the ball will move and maybe you’ll have a chance to get him more than seven shots. But we can’t, because the ball is just getting chucked up there.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]