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Auburn basketball needs to beat Tennessee to clinch an SEC regular season title outright

By Andrew Hughes

Auburn basketball must clear one last major hurdle in the form of the Tennessee Volunteers to clinch sole ownership of the SEC regular-season championship. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images)
Auburn basketball must clear one last major hurdle in the form of the Tennessee Volunteers to clinch sole ownership of the SEC regular-season championship. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images) /
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Obviously, Auburn basketball can’t fumble at the finish line and lose to either South Carolina or Mississippi State.

I definitely don’t like how familiar that sounded.

Anyway, barring something severely catastrophic that’s capable of sending Auburn fans everywhere into infinite sadness, the Tennessee Volunteers are the final hurdle needed to clear for AU hoops to its fifth regular-season SEC championship in program history.

Kentucky is hot on the Tigers’ tails after spring-boarding off a 17-4 second-half run to down LSU Wednesday night. The Wildcats are just one game back in the standings.

Arkansas could be their spoiler, but again, South Carolina and Mississippi State can beat Auburn when they aren’t supposed to. Things could get uncomfortably close in the standings as the regular season closes.

If AU can’t take down Tennessee this Saturday, the regular-season SEC Championship may well be shared, and not owned outright. This 2021-22 Auburn basketball team doesn’t deserve to go down in the history books as anything but the definitive top dog in this conference.

Tennessee has become a critically must-win game for Auburn basketball

Bruce Pearl likely already saw 2/26 in Knoxville as the game of the year for his Tigers. He has overcome another coaching scandal–this time brought upon by the actions of another, Chuck Person–and is coming back to the school that made him a national name in the sport with the most talent he’s ever had on any NCAA team.

Now, it could be the difference between sharing the SEC trophy engraving with John Calipari and owning it outright for the second time in the last three eligible seasons.

The Tigers are certainly trending in the right direction after knocking off Ole Miss by 13 at the still-named Auburn Arena that now bears the ‘Neville Arena’ signage.

Wendell Green Jr. was making shots from all over the court and kickstarting the offense off the pine after being scrutinized for his handling of the final possession against Florida this past Saturday. Zep Jasper shot spectacularly, canning four of his five shot attempts from beyond the arc and making five of seven field goal attempts overall.

The backcourt handled their business. Jabari Smith’s uncharacteristic shooting inefficiency aside, the frontcourt did the same. Walker Kessler’s eight blocks gave him a new school record.

It appears taking their second loss in SEC play and third loss on the season reignited a pep in Auburn’s step. Minus a spread cover.

One would hope that Florida loss will be the last before the SEC Tournament, if not the entire 2021-22 season in an idyllic existence.

Tennessee looms, though. Will the ghost of Pearl’s past stand in the way of sole proprietorship of his second SEC regular season title on the Plains?

Saturday awaits.

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