The Arkansas Razorbacks (15-10, 4-8 SEC) will face their toughest test of the season against the No. 1 Auburn Tigers (23-2, 11-1 SEC) on Wednesday at Neville Arena.
Led by 11th-year head coach Bruce Pearls, the Tigers have dominated through the majority of their schedule this season with wins over Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, Ohio State, Purdue, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama and others.
Arkansas is coming off a road defeat to the then-No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies, who forced the Razorbacks into a sloppy 17-turnover performance. Now looking for another resume-boosting victory for its NCAA Tournament hopes, Arkansas can't make the same mistakes against Auburn.
"For us to bust through, we're going to have to beat somebody," coach John Calipari said Saturday. "We can say what we want, like I wanted to make sure (the players) weren't happy (in the postgame locker room). ‘We're going to be okay.’ No, if we won that game, we're in the tournament. If we won that game, we're in the tournament. So it's not okay to say we'll be all right! Now you're going to have to go get somebody else."
Auburn last played then-No. 2 Alabama on Saturday, a 94-85 win for the Tigers. National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome reeled in 19 points, 14 rebounds and six assists for Auburn, while five other Tigers also scored double-digits.
Here's a closer comparison of Arkansas' and Auburn's stats, efficiency ratings, projected lineup for the Tigers and more ahead of Wednesday's game, which is set to tip off at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN:
