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Tennessee can't risk looking past Auburn

Feb 20, 2008 - 2:10 PM Auburn (13-10) at No. 2 Tennessee (23-2) 7:30 pm EST

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) - Before No. 2 Tennessee faces No. 1 Memphis on Saturday, the Volunteers have a Southeastern Conference game on Wednesday against Auburn.

The Volunteers (23-2, 10-1) have not started 11-1 in the SEC since the 1976-77 season and haven't won the conference title since 1966-67.

"We're trying to do something that hasn't been done in 41 years and that's outright win an SEC championship," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "What Memphis has done to build this streak is take it one game at a time. We're going to have to do the same thing."

Tennessee has won 18 of its last 19 games, including a 74-71 decision at Georgia on Saturday. The Volunteers have achieved their highest ranking in school history. The Volunteers have won seven games overall and 29 straight at home.

Senior guard Chris Lofton leads Tennessee at 15.5 points per game. The Volunteers have won seven of the last 10 games in the series.

The Tigers (13-10, 3-7) snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday with a 90-78 victory at Mississippi. Senior forward Quan Prowell, who scored 25 points in the win over the Rebels, leading Auburn at 14.3 points per game.