With the overtime win Tuesday night at Arkansas, Auburn moved to 7-2 in the SEC. Auburn started 3-2 in SEC play following back-to-back losses at Alabama and Florida by a combined margin of 41 points, but have come away with four straight victories in conference play and five straight overall following the two-game skid.
After losing to Florida, Auburn was ranked 7th overall in the SEC standings behind LSU, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas. Since the South Carolina win, the Tigers have strung together more wins on the road against Ole Miss and Arkansas, both which were comeback wins in overtime, and a big home win against Kentucky to jump five of the teams ahead of them in conference.
The winning streak has locked them in a tie with Kentucky for second overall behind LSU, who suffered its first conference loss of the season Wednesday at Vanderbilt. Despite the early stumbles by both Auburn and Kentucky, the trio of LSU, Auburn and Kentucky have begun to separate themselves from the rest of the SEC as they get deeper into the conference season.
Auburn hosts LSU on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. CST and the game has huge implications for both the potential seedings in the SEC Tournament but also the regular season champion. Auburn is attempting to win its second regular-season conference title in three years and fifth in program history.
With a win on Saturday, Auburn could give LSU its second loss of conference of the week and jump into first place in the SEC. The win would also give Auburn a five-game winning streak. After Saturday's matchup, Tigers tough stretch of games, that started with Kentucky and Arkansas, will come to an end when they host rivals Alabama on Wednesday.
No matter the outcome of the game on Saturday, Auburn appears to be on pace for a top-4 seed in Nashville for the SEC Tournament. Auburn is the highest ranked SEC team in the AP Top 25, of the three total teams ranked, and have established a gap between the other 11 teams in the conference despite the early struggles. There is not a question on whether or not Auburn, LSU and Kentucky will be one of the top-4 seeds but rather what order those three teams will end the season at.
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