College basketball is on the doorstep of March, but don’t discount February’s final Saturday in Southeastern Conference play with No. 6 Kentucky visiting No. 18 Arkansas and with No. 3 Auburn traveling to No. 17 Tennessee.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl actually compares his team’s challenge inside Thompson-Boling Arena to early April.
“I would think that playing Tennessee at Tennessee would be as difficult as winning a Final Four game,” Pearl said on a Zoom call, paying tribute to the 15-game home winning streak compiled by the Volunteers since late last season. “That’s what it would be very much equated to. You want to be playing great teams at the end of the year, because it’s a great barometer for where you are.
“We’ve got some great wins, but because of how tough they are at home, we’re absolutely going to have to have our best performance of the year.”
Auburn (25-3, 13-2 SEC) is the highest-ranked team the Vols (20-7, 11-4) have faced this season, which is saying something. Tennessee lost to No. 5 Villanova in November, defeated No. 6 Arizona in December and downed No. 4 Kentucky earlier this month.