Pearl welcoming hot Tennessee team to Auburn Arena

AUBURN – The good news and the bad news for Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl have converged right now for his team’s next matchup.

With arguably the Southeastern Conference’s most confident team arriving at Auburn Arena Tuesday night, Pearl knows the focus has to be all Tennessee and not basking in the glow of its dominating win at TCU.

After getting a win at a potential NCAA Tournament bubble team Saturday where the Tigers (14-7, 3-5 in SEC) were up by as many as 21 in the second half, Pearl now must find a way to retrieve the energy needed to knock off another squad on a nationally-recognized three-game winning streak.

“I don't think psychologically winning or losing has much to do with it, because they understand the grind (of the schedule),” Pearl said about his team’s mentality following the 88-80 win at TCU. “There's not an ounce of overconfidence at all. We have issues. Overconfidence isn't one of them."

Tennessee (12-9, 4-4 in SEC) comes to Auburn Tuesday (8 p.m., SEC Network) after beating Kentucky and Kansas State in a four-day stretch that has placed the Volunteers as a projected No. 11 seed in USA Today’s projected NCAA Tournament bracket.

"I don't think you can hide from it or run from it,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said Monday. “The fact is they came to college and like all college players they want to be a part of March Madness. You can't hide from it. You have to embrace it. You also have to understand that talking about it won't get it done. What will get it done is doing your job. That means getting prepared.”

A win Tuesday night for Auburn, which sits only among a logjam in the middle of the league standings where third to 12th are all between three games, makes Pearl believe they could get in the same postseason conversation that Tennessee currently finds itself in.

“I’d to get our fourth road win, true road win of the year, was really significant,” Pearl said. “And now our RPI has dropped down into the low 60s. As you guys know when you start getting into the low 50s, they start talking about the possibility of being on the bubble. So we’re in range. That said, we know the task that’s in front of us.”

Peal recognized that in order to counter the Tennessee scoring duo of guard Robert Hubbs III and forward Grant Williams, Auburn is going to have to get more production out of its power forward spot. In its win at TCU, Auburn decided to bench Danjel Purifoy in favor of sophomore Horace Spencer giving Auburn a longer and more physical option than the normally offensive-minded Purifoy. However, Purifoy is only averaging 6.8 points per game in SEC play and is going through a shooting slump of 10 of 34 in five league games.

Pearl said again Monday that despite his injection of offense and rebounding prowess in the last month (double figures in three of last four games and multiple offensive rebounds in the last four games), playing the 6-foot-7 freshman at the power forward isn’t an option.

“I really like what we’re getting out of Anfernee (McLemore) and Austin (Wiley) at the (center),” Pearl said. “We talked about this a long time with several of (the media), Anfernee’s just better at the five. And so therefore, what we’re doing is we’re trying to play the guys at the position that they’re best at and then trying to find a way to blend all that.”