STARKVILLE, Miss. – Hoping to continue its wire-to-wire quest for a Southeastern Conference regular season championship, No. 5 Auburn arrived in Starkville Tuesday night, more than 24 hours before tipping off against Mississippi State in the Tigers' final road game of the season.
Next Game:
Mississippi State
March 2, 2022
8 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Auburn Sports Network
Standing in Auburn's way: a Bulldogs team that's 7-1 in SEC home games and hoping to bolster its postseason resume with a top five victory.
"They're looking at this as an opportunity to help get them in the tournament because of the math that a game like this presents to them," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "They'll line up against anybody. And they'll line up against us."
After eight weeks of SEC play, coaching staffs from both teams have pored over hours of video and crafted game plans to negate their opponent's strengths.
"When the scouting report is out, can we have something else to go to?" Pearl said. "That's what we do work on. That's how players go from being good to great, and so do teams."
With wins over Mississippi State and South Carolina Saturday, Auburn would clinch sole possession of the fourth SEC regular season title in program history and the second in the Pearl era.
"The regular season championship of the SEC, to me, is the greatest prize," he said. "We're on top of the league because of the job the kids have done. We want to take advantage of the position we've worked so hard to put ourselves in. None of this was given to us."
No. 5 Auburn (25-4, 13-3) tips off against Mississippi State (17-12, 8-8) Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network from Humphrey Coliseum. Andy Burcham and Sonny Smith will call the action on the Auburn Sports Network.
"How important is it to make history around here? It's the first thing you see when you walk into our locker room," Pearl said. "To win our league this year where the league is as good as it's probably ever been, that's historic."
PLAYER TO WATCH: JABARI SMITH
Freshman forward Jabari Smith has turned in three of his top-three scoring performances this season over the last four contests including a game-high 27 points against Tennessee on Saturday. He also posted a career-high 31 points against Vanderbilt on Feb. 16 and scored 28 points at Florida on Feb. 19. Over the last four games he's averaging 25.3 points and 7.0 rebounds a game.
INSIDE THE SERIES: MISSISSIPPI STATE
The Tigers and Bulldogs are set to square off for the 150th time in series history on Wednesday. Auburn holds a 78-70 advantage all-time. On the court, the Tigers have won six of the last eight, including five of the last six overall. Th e 2017 win at Auburn was vacated in December by the NCAA.
Head coach Bruce Pearl is 10-5 (11-5 on court) against the Bulldogs in his career and is 5-3 (6-3 on court) vs. Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland with all nine of the matchups coming with both coaches at their current schools.
IN SEARCH OF A CHAMPIONSHIP
The first-place Tigers remain in the hunt for an SEC regular-season championship title despite a 67-62 setback at No. 17 Tennessee on Saturday. Two wins this week, and Auburn would win the title outright. A split could result in a potential share with three teams (Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky) who are currently tied for second.
Auburn is in search of its fourth SEC regular season title in program history and first since 2018 under Pearl. Pearl would become just the 10th coach in SEC history to win three or more SEC championships. He also won in 2008 with Tennessee. He would be the first Auburn coach with two SEC regular-season titles.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer