AUBURN, Ala. - Coming off perhaps its most impressive win of the season, Auburn heads to Tuscaloosa Tuesday with postseason implications at stake in addition to the bragging rights that accompany the in-state rivalry.
Ranked No. 20 in the NCAA Net rankings and having already earned a second-straight 20-win season, Auburn still has an opportunity to earn a double-bye in next week's Southeastern Conference tournament by finishing fourth in the SEC. A second consecutive NCAA tournament bid looms.
"It's special to get in," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "At Auburn, we haven't been there back-to-back very often. That's something we would like to try and do, but if we don't keep getting better, improving and becoming more efficient, it'll be hard to win another game. That's how good the teams are that we're playing against. That's our goal is to keep trying to play better. I think we did that last week."
After a 78-75 win at Georgia and an 80-75 home win vs. Mississippi State, Auburn (20-9, 9-7) seeks to sweep the season series with Alabama before closing out the regular season Saturday at 11 a.m. CT against first-place Tennessee at Auburn Arena.
"We have to play our best basketball to beat those two teams," said Pearl, whose Tigers defeated Alabama 84-63 Feb. 2 on the Plains. "What does that look like? It looks like dealing with Alabama's size and switching. It looks like dealing with Tennessee's physicality. It deals with us defending and rebounding. We do those things, and we give ourselves a chance.
"Alabama has great size and great length. They lead the league in three-point field goal percentage defense and we lead the league as one of the better three-point shooting teams. They do it because they do a lot of switching. They put a lot of people on the perimeter with great length."
Auburn beat Mississippi State despite being outrebounded 41-21, a margin the Tigers hope to reduce against Alabama.
"Not turn it over, rebound the ball, don't get physically overwhelmed, handle the environment," Pearl said. "The game means a lot to us because it's a great rivalry.
"They're obviously a very talented and very deep team. We played really well at home against Alabama. We shot really well. We played really hard defensively; we turned them over. It'll take a great effort to get them again."
Player to watch: Danjel Purifoy
In his career, Danjel Purifoy has played well against Alabama. The Centreville native has averaged 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 57 percent from the floor in three games against the Crimson Tide. Purifoy has made at least one 3-pointer in eight of his last 13 games - all coming during SEC play.
Inside the series: Alabama
This is the 160th meeting between Auburn and Alabama with the Crimson Tide holding a 96-63 advantage. Auburn leads 32-27 in Auburn, and the Tigers have won four straight meetings at Auburn Arena, the last three coming by an average of 20.0 points per game, including an 84-63 victory on Feb. 2. Auburn's 21-point win is its largest margin of victory over the Crimson Tide since defeating them 81-57 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 23, 2007. The Tigers are looking for their second sweep over Alabama in the last three years. Prior to 2017, Auburn's last sweep over the Crimson Tide was in 2009.
Alabama leads 49-9 all-time between the two teams in Tuscaloosa, including a 42-8 mark at Coleman Coliseum. With a win, Pearl would join Bill Lynn (3) and Jeff Lebo (2) as the only three head coaches to lead Auburn to multiple wins at Alabama.
Taking care of the rock
Auburn tied a season low by committing only seven turnovers at Georgia on Feb. 27, including just two turnovers in the first half. It is the Tigers' fifth game of the season with under 10 turnovers, including three in the last five games. Auburn has averaged just 3.0 first-half turnovers over the last three games. For the season, Auburn is third in the SEC averaging 12.9 turnovers per game.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer.