TUSCALOOSA — Bruce Pearl has often been cranky after Auburn basketball games this season.

He's expressed admiration for his team's ability to bounceback from a road loss at Appalachian State on Dec. 3 and rattle off 11 straight victories, but the manner in which the Tigers secured those wins frequently left him miffed. Auburn outscored teams by an average of 17 points in the first half over its winning streak, but the final scores didn't always reflect a dominant 40 minutes.

Pearl, however, wasn't irritable after the Tigers picked up a 79-75 loss to Alabama in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday. In fact, he was almost encouraged, delighted by the effort Auburn displayed in the second half to erase the 14-point hole it found itself in at the break.

“They’re going to run people out of here a lot," Pearl said of the Crimson Tide. "Period. They didn’t run us out. I think our guys can go, ‘Alright, we can compete on the road in a tough environment against a really, really good team.' This may not be the outcome we wanted, but this is an outcome that tells me something.

"You've got to be pretty good to come in here and not get run out in this environment."

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It initially looked like Auburn was in for a humbling. Alabama began the game by drilling five of its first seven 3-pointers, forced the Tigers into nine first-half turnovers and held Auburn to .811 points per possession in the opening 20 minutes.

A good way to put it: The Tigers got punched in the face. Every triple Alabama guard Rylan Griffen sank felt like a body shot, and every three Latrell Wrightsell Jr. splashed felt like an overhand to the temple.

But the atmosphere in the halftime locker room wasn't one of a team ready to throw in the towel, according to Pearl. Auburn was metaphorically bloodied up after taking Alabama's best shot, but not ready to give up: "The locker room was really positive at halftime," Pearl said. "Guys were really encouraging each other."

"I thought we just got really good leadership," he added. "We've got good chemistry. We've got great kids. We got some stops, and we had some shots. We came here to win a game. You could tell. We came here to win. We didn't, but you could tell the way we came back in the second half."

Auburn had a chance to tie the game late when Chad Baker-Mazara was fouled on a 3-point attempt. He swished his first two free throws before the third rimmed out. Alabama's Grant Nelson, who had a huge second half, secured the rebound and was fouled by Johni Broome. A few foul shots ended the game after that.

Baker-Mazara, the team's best shooter from the FT line, took to social media after the game and shouldered responsibility: "I owe ya one Auburn!!" he wrote.

Losing a rivalry game is tough. Losing by four points makes it worse.

But the Tigers are fine. Alabama boasts the No. 1 offense in the country, and yet Auburn did what was required to slow down the Crimson Tide and make the deficit evaporate and even briefly take the lead. The response to getting punched in the face was impressive, as the comeback effort and Baker-Mazara's instant reaction to his mistake shows Auburn's maturity.

The next step is finishing a game like this. The Tigers will have plenty of opportunities to do that down the stretch with contests coming against foes such as Kentucky and Tennessee.

Oh, and they'll get Alabama again in two weeks.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball punched back vs. Alabama. The next step is finishing