Something caught Bruce Pearl’s attention when he flipped on ESPN2 on Wednesday night to watch Auburn’s next opponent, third-ranked Alabama, in action — and no, it wasn’t just the overwhelming talent Nate Oats has gathered on the floor in Tuscaloosa this season.

What caught Pearl’s ear was a comment from ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes, who was on the call for the game. As Alabama blew out Florida, 97-69, at Coleman Coliseum, Dykes turned his attention to Saturday’s showdown on the Plains, where Auburn (17-7, 7-4 SEC) will host Alabama (22-3, 11-0) at 1 p.m. in Neville Arena. Dykes, in the moment, said the Tigers would enter that rivalry game as a “desperate” team after dropping four of its last five games.

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That remark caused Pearl to sit up in his chair.

“We’ve got opportunities in front of us,” Pearl said. “It depends what your perspective is. Like, I don’t feel desperate. I feel like I’ve got a really good team that’s playing really hard, that is competing every night, and we’re giving ourselves a chance. I don’t feel desperate. I understand our schedule. We will have the toughest schedule in the league this year.”

Despite Auburn’s recent woes and missed opportunities to fortify its NCAA Tournament resume, Pearl’s team heads into Saturday’s showdown feeling composed, as well as eager to try to capitalize on the opportunity that’s in front of it.

Since improving to 16-3 on the year and getting off to a 6-1 start in SEC play, Auburn has come up short in four of its last five games. That stretch has been bookended by a sweep at the hands of Texas A&M.

First, Auburn was handed a 16-point loss at Neville Arena that snapped the Tigers’ 28-game home winning streak on Jan. 25. On Tuesday, the Tigers came up short on the road against the Aggies, losing by five in a game that saw Pearl’s team attempt 25 fewer free throws than Texas A&M. In between those two setbacks were a pair of one-possession road losses at West Virginia and Tennessee, with a 21-point home win against Georgia sandwiched between those.

Each of Auburn’s three road losses during that stretch were Quad 1 opportunities, while the home loss to Texas A&M went down as a Quad 2 loss for the Tigers. As it stands, Auburn is just 2-5 in Quad 1 opportunities this season — with wins against Arkansas at home and Northwestern on a neutral court — and all five losses coming by single digits, with four of the five in true road games and determined by a combined 14 points.

To say that Auburn hasn’t played particularly well during its recent tough stretch would be, well, a stretch. The Tigers just haven’t been able to finish off close games, many of them on the road, with late-game execution a recurring issue that Pearl has taken responsibility for.

“I’m really proud of my team for how we’re playing,” Pearl said. “…Even though the competition is getting better, we’ve also gotten better — just not enough to win.”

With how Auburn’s schedule sets up, there are still ample opportunities for the Tigers to secure some signature wins and bounce back. Auburn still has trips to Kentucky and Alabama, as well as its home finale against Tennessee awaiting on the schedule. There are also games against Ole Miss and Missouri, plus one at Vanderbilt in which Auburn should be favored.

First, of course, is Saturday’s marquee matchup with Alabama, which enters the game ranked third in the AP poll, second in NET rankings and KenPom, and has cruised through SEC play. Alabama is undefeated in league action and winning by an average margin of 22.3 points per game. It’s easy to understand why Pearl believes Alabama is “the best team in the league and best team in the country” this season.

“They’re scoring 85; they’re giving up 63 (points per game),” Pearl said. “They’re No. 1 in 3-point offense and two-point offense. They’re No. 1 in two-point defense and 3-point defense. I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like that, and the difference between probably this team and some of the other great talented Alabama teams that we’ve faced, is they’re really locked in defensively. Their 3-point field goal percentage defense is like 21 percent, and they’re nationally ranked defensively, too. So, this is, by far, the most talented team we’ve played. This is an extremely well-coached team. They’ve won on the road. And they’re obviously playing great right now.”

Auburn heads into Saturday’s 1 p.m. matchup (on ESPN) with an opportunity to secure its biggest win of the season and just its fourth-ever win against a team ranked in the top-three of the AP poll, the last of which came against third-ranked North Carolina in the Sweet 16 of the 2019 NCAA Tournament during the Tigers’ Final Four run.

Pearl is confident that Auburn can continue to play at a level that puts the Tigers in position to win late, as it has over the last few weeks, despite the recent tough losses.

“It’s always tough, it’s hard to wipe a couple of those losses away when you know you were right there, but at the end of the day we have got to keep moving forward,” center Johni Broome said. “We have Saturday to look forward to, so hopefully we can come out on Saturday and get it done.”

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