The Southeastern Conference has reached the midway mark of its league schedule in men's basketball with Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee having been favored in all nine games.
Only Alabama is 9-0.
Auburn and Tennessee are each 7-2 in SEC contests but will not be tied much longer, as the No. 25 Tigers (17-5) and No. 2 Volunteers (18-4) are set to vie Saturday afternoon (2 on ESPN) inside Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee had lost six consecutive series meetings before ending the skid in Knoxville last February, when the No. 17 Vols rallied past the No. 3 Tigers 67-62.
"Everybody has an opportunity every night to do something to put themselves in position," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Friday afternoon. "February is a month when everybody is fighting to secure something in the postseason, and it's not just us. It's everybody.
"You've got to be ready to play every single night, and I don't think there is a team in the country that if they're not ready to play they can't get beat this year."
The importance of remaining in the SEC hunt is magnified by the fact both Auburn and Tennessee have tougher second-half schedules. That's especially the case for Bruce Pearl's Tigers, who have to play both No. 4 Alabama and Tennessee twice and have trips to Kentucky and Texas A&M.
Auburn finished the first half of its league slate with Wednesday's 94-73 win over visiting Georgia, a game in which the Tigers tallied 22 assists and suffered just five turnovers.
"We've got to beat the teams that we can and pick off some ones where we're the underdog," Pearl said Wednesday night in a news conference. "We've got nine games left, and we are probably going to be a dog in six of them. Saturday is going to be tough. Tennessee has just been blowing people out at home."
Tennessee will be looking to bounce back from Wednesday's 67-54 loss at Florida, with the Vols having led the Gators by six with 10 minutes remaining.
"Obviously we look at what we do after every game," Barnes said, "and I don't think anybody is happy with the way we played at Florida."
There will be no lack of fireworks Saturday on the perimeter, with Tennessee's 5-foot-9 Zakai Zeigler and Auburn's 5-11 Wendell Green and 6-foot K.D. Johnson known for their constant energy. The Vols lead the nation in defensive field-goal percentage (34.85%) and rank 17th in steals (9.3 per game), while the Tigers rank 19th in field-goal defense (39.42%) and are seventh in blocks (5.8 per game).
"Bruce has done what he's always done, which is getting the most out of his team every year," Barnes said. "They're certainly a different team from a year ago, but his guys play hard, and they execute what he wants them to do. When they get going, they're explosive."
Said Pearl: "Tennessee will climb all in us and pressure us and make it really difficult to run our stuff."
Auburn and Tennessee lead the SEC in wins over the past six seasons with 139 and 137, respectively.
Odds and ends
Tennessee holds a healthy 79-44 series advantage, which includes a commanding 49-9 lead in Knoxville. ... The Vols grabbed 54 rebounds in last year's win over Auburn, the highest such total of the Barnes era, which began with the 2015-16 season. ... The Tigers have been ranked 32 weeks in a row, which is a program record.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.