Bruce Pearl on possibility of Auburn being ranked No. 1

Auburn has had a phenomenal basketball season up to this point. The Tigers are currently 16-1 overall, 5-0 in SEC play, riding a 13-game winning streak and ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

While Bruce Pearl’s squad has been enjoying much success so far in 2021-22, there’s a good chance that the Tigers will be ranked at the top of the college basketball world on Monday when the new AP poll drops. As both No. 1 ranked Baylor and No. 3 UCLA both lost over the last week, that makes way for Auburn to climb up even higher.

Following Auburn’s latest outing, an 80-71 win over Ole Miss on Saturday, Pearl was asked what it would mean for the Tigers to be ranked No. 1.

“We’ve been managing the target a little bit for the last week or so because we’ve kind of put ourselves in a position all of a sudden where we started climbing the rankings a little bit,” Pearl said. “Look, we’re going to get beat. And when we get beat, it’s not because we rested on our laurels or started to pay attention to the media. Ole Miss was good enough to beat us and made good enough plays to beat us. They outplayed us for the first 18 minutes of that game.

“But, at the same time, it is historic, and it does matter, and it does mean something. That will be a proud moment for Auburn – period. Our university and our athletic department. I understand that it doesn’t mean much right now, but it still makes a very strong statement.”

Auburn – which has just one loss to UConn, a double-overtime setback on Nov. 24 in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament – returns to action Wednesday at home against Georgia. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Auburn ties longest active win streak in nation after comeback win

The Auburn Tigers men’s basketball team completed their comeback victory over Ole Miss, tying the longest active win streak in the nation. The win was Auburn’s 13th in a row, currently the eighth-longest streak in school history.

Tigers’ head coach Bruce Pearl is no stranger to win streaks, as his current Auburn team still hasn’t caught up to his best streak yet. The 2019-20 Auburn Tigers reached a 15-game win streak of their own under Pearl before the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Pearl’s current team is poised to match that mark if they can beat Georgia and Kentucky over their next two games.

After Baylor and Southern Cal fell earlier in the week, there are no remaining undefeated teams in major college basketball. Auburn’s streak ties Davidson for the longest active streaks in the nation.

On3’s Austin Brezina contributed to this report.