SEC title comes down to final day
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — One of the most improbable Southeastern Conference title chases in league history is coming down to the final day of the regular season.
No. 14 Auburn hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003 for the longest drought of any SEC team, yet the Tigers are one win away from clinching at least a share of the league championship.
Auburn is tied for first place with Tennessee, which was picked before the season to finish next-to-last in the league standings.
“That’s why you play the game,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Let’s let these kids decide. Don’t put a crown on anybody before you get out there and actually put the balls out there and see what’s up. That’s what we’ve done all season long, and that’s what Tennessee has done.”
Auburn (24-6, 12-5 SEC) hosts South Carolina (16-14, 7-10) today while Tennessee (22-7, 12-5) hosts Georgia (1613, 7-10). If there’s a tie for first place, Auburn would get the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament by virtue of its 94-84 victory at Tennessee on Jan. 2.
“What I think it means is that we’ve got a group of guys who worked hard,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “They believed when a lot of people outside probably didn’t believe. They’ve done the work. It hasn’t been easy. It’s not easy for anybody.”
This would mark Auburn’s first SEC regularseason title since 1999. Tennessee hasn’t won the SEC since 2008, when Pearl was coaching the Vols. Pearl is seeking to become the first coach Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield and the Vols will host the Georgia Bulldogs today.
to lead two SEC schools to league titles since Eddie Fogler coached Vanderbilt to the 1993 championship and South Carolina to the 1997 crown. Pearl directed Tennessee to NCAA Tournament berths in each of his six seasons at Tennessee but was fired in 2011 amid an
NCAA investigation that resulted in a three-year show-cause penalty for the coach. Pearl landed at Auburn as his penalty expired, and Auburn has produced a breakthrough season in the third year of his tenure.
Auburn’s faced plenty of adversity along the way. Rogelio V. Solis / AP
Center Austin Wiley and forward Danjel Purifoy have been held out all season amid a federal investigation into former associate head coach Chuck Person, who faces bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges. Two support staffers have also been on leave this season.