AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's road to repeating as SEC champions begins Wednesday at Ole Miss. Last year, the Tigers won their first four conference games and nine of their first 10, finishing 13-5 to earn Auburn's first SEC title since 1999.
"The league this year is much better than it was a year ago," said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, mentioning Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky as top contenders. "We have three or four teams in the top of our league that are good enough to get to the Elite 8 or Sweet 16.
"We've got Mississippi State and Kentucky twice and they are right there on top. We've got to try and get every one that we can. I think like last year, the team that can kind of handle adversity, not let a loss or two get you too off-kilter. Tennessee started the year last year - they went to Arkansas got beat, came home, hosted us, got beat and went on to share the conference championship. It's just going to be a real grind."
EXTENDED BREAKBy the time the Tigers tip off at Ole Miss, Auburn will have played only one game in 17 days, a 95-49 win over North Florida on Dec. 29.
"I would prefer to play, but I'm a glass half-full guy," Pearl said. "We will take this break and turn it into a positive."
Hinting at physical practices, Pearl told the Tigers to "buckle up your chin strap" for the first workouts of 2019.
"We'll practice for about four days," he said. "We'll focus very heavily on those four days on some of our future SEC opponents. I'll give them Saturday off. We'll come back Sunday and focus on Ole Miss and we travel to Ole Miss on Tuesday. We play Wednesday."
PURIFOY'S PROGRESSPlaying in his fourth game after missing the first nine, junior Danjel Purifoy tied his season-high by playing eight minutes against North Florida, scoring two points while contributing a rebound and an assist.
"Danjel played better this week in practice," Pearl said after the North Florida game. "He looked very good. He played a little more in the guard spots today, so I can continue to see him making progress. He's getting closer."
SCOUTING OLE MISSPearl is no stranger to first-year Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis, familiarity that the Auburn coach said would keep him up late reviewing their previous meetings.
"I think I've played against Kermit Davis five times at Tennessee and three times at Auburn when he was at Middle Tennessee," Pearl said. "I know what a good coach he is. They're going to keep running the stuff they've been running. He's got better players at Ole Miss than he had at Middle and Middle has been in the tournament a bunch of times."
REBELS ROAD TRIPWith a 6 p.m. tip Wednesday on ESPN2, Pearl urges Auburn fans to attend the Tigers' SEC opener in Oxford, Mississippi, a 3-hour drive from Birmingham.
"I'm going to be encouraging our fans to go on that road trip," he said. "Ole Miss has got tickets available. It's winter break over there. It's not that far of a drive and we need witnesses."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer