If playing meaningful college basketball games on the doorstep of March is the objective, then Tennessee and Auburn definitely have that covered.
The No. 4 Volunteers and No. 11 Tigers collide Wednesday night (7 on ESPN2) inside the Food City Center for a showdown that could have ramifications on the Southeastern Conference race and on seeding for the looming NCAA tournament. Both teams are 21-6 overall, with Tennessee 11-3 in SEC play and tied for first with Alabama, and with Auburn 10-4 and tied with South Carolina for third.
"This time of year, I think everybody realizes that the regular season is coming to an end," Vols coach Rick Barnes said Tuesday afternoon in a news conference. "If you look at the way conferences set up their schedules, they're really looking to get the teams in terms of preseason projections playing each other this time of year.
"This time of year, if you're not excited, there is something wrong."
Tennessee still has No. 14 Alabama, No. 18 South Carolina and No. 16 Kentucky on the schedule after facing Auburn, with Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks providing the unexpected tough test after being picked last in the league before the season. This would mark the first time in program history that the Vols could face four consecutive top-20 teams.
Bruce Pearl's Tigers held the top spot in the SEC standings with their 5-0 start, but they've had to play catch-up since suffering consecutive setbacks at Alabama and at Mississippi State. Auburn does have a 4-3 record in league road games this season, winning at Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Georgia by double digits.
"It's almost March, and we're still playing for championships, and there aren't many teams in the country that can say that," Pearl said Tuesday. "There are six teams in our league that are a game or two within first place, so every game is precious. I've been saying all along that I think Tennessee is the best team in the league, but we haven't played them yet, so we're fixing to find out.
"They are experienced and so well coached. They've got great guard play. They're dangerous from 3, and they've got guys who can really protect the rim."
Auburn fifth-year senior forward Jaylin Williams, who suffered a knee injury in the 70-59 loss to Kentucky on Feb. 17 and did not play this past Saturday during the 97-76 win in Athens, will make the trip to Knoxville. Pearl said that the 6-foot-8, 245-pounder, who averages 13.0 points and 4.7 rebounds, could be a game-time decision.
The Tigers are led by 6-10, 240-pound junior forward Johni Broome, who averages 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds, but Tennessee has one of the hottest inside players in the SEC with 6-11, 240-pound junior forward Jonas Aidoo, who racked up 18 points and 14 rebounds in last Saturday night's 86-51 crushing of Texas A&M.
"He's one of the best bigs in the country," Aidoo said Tuesday of Broome. "It's going to be a great challenge for me."
Tennessee and Auburn are overrun with depth and experience and proven head coaches. The Vols hold a commanding 80-45 series lead, but the Tigers are 7-2 in the last nine meetings.
Auburn won the 2019 SEC tournament championship with an 84-64 downing of Tennessee, and the Tigers rolled 85-63 in Knoxville during the final game of the 2020 regular season, which wound up being the final contest for both teams before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
"These games have mattered, and history matters to me," Pearl said. "We're trying to make history, and we're trying to win a conference championship. We need to win at Tennessee to be in a position to win it.
"Coach Barnes is a Hall of Fame coach, and he continues to be as good as he's always been, or maybe better. He was one of the best coaches in college basketball 30 years ago."
This is the only regular season meeting between the Vols and Tigers this year. The two teams split last season, with Tennessee edging Auburn 46-43 in Knoxville in a game that featured just five combined 3-pointers out of 48 attempts.
"That was not a pretty game for either one of us," Barnes said.
Shining new faces
The Vols have been led this season by fifth-year senior guard and Northern Colorado transfer Dalton Knecht, who is averaging 20.1 points per game, while Auburn's star newcomer is Chad Baker-Mazara. The 6-7, 180-pound guard/forward bounced from Duquesne to San Diego State to Northwest Florida State College earlier in his career and is coming off a 25-point performance at Georgia.
"If you wrote out a list nationally of the best players in college basketball who you had never heard of before, the Knecht kid is at the top of everyone's list," Pearl said, "but Chad Baker-Mazara is on the list."
Odds and ends
Tennessee has won its last four games by an average of 26.0 points, its first such streak since the 1965-66 season. ... Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Tennessee (.724) and Auburn (.722) have the best overall win percentage among SEC programs. ... The Vols have won six SEC games by at least 35 points in the last 24 seasons, with two of the six occurring the last two Saturdays against Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.