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Last year's Vols went to Auburn, blew a 14-point second-half lead and lost, 83-80.

"They really handed it to us in the second half down there last year," said UT senior guard Jordan Howell, an Auburn, Ala., native. "After the Georgia game, all we've talked about is how we owe Auburn one.

"Auburn stands in the way of us winning an SEC championship. That's the only game we're worried about right now."

Pearl and his players went on to state several reasons why they wouldn't look past Auburn. They listed the Tigers' SEC wins at LSU and Ole Miss. They mentioned Auburn's fourth-best SEC field-goal percentage and eight-plus made 3-pointers per game.

Pearl summarized all of his team's narrow escapes and suggested Auburn "would be playing for an SEC championship" if not for some key injuries, specifically to forward and one-time UT commitment Korvotney Barber.

"They were built for this year," Pearl said.




Auburn has given some SEC teams fits with its quickness, but that's a natural offset of key post injuries. Small forward Quan Powell is now a 6-foot-8 center, and 6-4 senior guard Frank Tolbert is at power forward.