No. 19 Auburn stands atop the SEC standings heading into its home game against LSU on Saturday, but symbolic of coach Bruce Pearl's competitive style, he wants more.
"We thought of this as an opportunity to try and separate ourselves from the rest of the league if we could," Pearl said after Wednesday's 91-73 win at Missouri. "What's meaningful is how effective we were to get this road win in a tough place to play.
"You've just got to be excited about playing. Look around our league. Every night they're just knocking each other off. I'm proud of our kids and I'm happy for them, but (being in first place) really doesn't mean much right now."
Auburn, the SEC's highest-scoring team averaging 85.6 points a game, is coming off one of its most balanced games in the win over Missouri.
The Tigers (18-2, 6-1 SEC) were led by Jared Harper's 21 points. Bryce Brown and Desean Murray each added 16, and Mustapha Heron had 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Chuma Okeke had 10 points in 15 minutes.
Auburn also was dominant on the defensive end with nine blocked shots, led by Anfernee McLemore's six, adding to his conference-leading total of 61.
Harper mentioned that leading the SEC is "great for us." Florida is next in the standings at 6-2. Three teams are 5-3, including preseason favorite Kentucky. Auburn was picked to finish ninth in the poll voted by media that covers the league.
"After last season, that was our goal," Harper said ascending to the top of the conference. "As soon as our first practice after the season started we said we wanted to win the SEC. We went through that every day, every workout, every weightlifting session."
LSU (12-7, 3-4) enters Saturday's game coming off an impressive 77-65 home win over Texas A&M. The Tigers swept the Aggies this season and won their first home league game of the season.
They snapped a three-game losing streak and passed last year's win total with the victory.
Senior forward Duop Reath followed a career-high 31-point game in a loss to Vanderbilt with a 21-point, eight-rebound effort against Texas A&M, hitting 9 of 14 field goals. Reath added eight boards to lead the Tigers.
"He's good," LSU coach Will Wade said. "He got a couple in transition and he made a couple of good post moves. He got into their body and made a couple post moves. He's playing good basketball right now."
Aaron Epps had 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting with two 3-pointers before fouling out and Tremont Waters finished with 15 points, nine assists and eight steals.
Both Auburn and LSU struggle with rebounding. In the win over Missouri, Auburn was outrebounded, 40-31. LSU lost the rebounding battle 50-30 against Texas A&M.
"If you're gonna get blasted on the glass like that, you have to get some steals, which we did," said Wade, whose team tallied 13 steals, led by Waters' effort.
