As the end of the regular season approaches, Auburn's toughest remaining test is up on Saturday: A trip to Knoxville to play No. 17 Tennessee.

Auburn currently holds a one-game lead on Kentucky in the SEC standings and is two games up on Arkansas and Tennessee. With an Auburn win and a Kentucky loss to Arkansas, Auburn can secure an SEC regular season title. With a loss, things get tricky with Tennessee then a game back and the winner of Kentucky vs. Arkansas squarely in the mix with two games left.

"It’ll be a great challenge for us," Bruce Pearl said. "A championship-caliber game.”

The Tigers will look to snap a two-game road losing streak in Thompson-Boling Arena, a place Tennessee hasn't lost at this season. The Vols come in as winners of nine of their last 10 and one of the nation's top defensive teams.

Tennessee allows just 62.9 points per game at home and is the No. 3 defensive team in the country according to KenPom.

"I think this is one of the better Tennessee teams we’ve seen since 2019, which I think was the best team we had seen since I’ve been in Auburn," Pearl said. "That 2019 team was one of my favorite — one of my favorite teams from the standpoint of having great respect for an opponent. This team here is, I think, equally as good. The difference is this year’s team is actually better defensively."

Playing challenging Tennessee teams is no challenge to Pearl and Auburn. But neither is winning, with Pearl-led Auburn teams 7-4 against Tennessee and winners of six-straight against the Vols. The last matchup coming in 2021 when a shorthanded Auburn team that was missing Sharife Cooper won 77-72 and secured Bruce Pearl's 600th career win as a coach.

This matchup is one of Auburn's biggest yet, though, with SEC regular season title race implications on the line along with March Madness seeding still up in the air as Auburn clings to a 1-seed.

“Well, I would think that playing Tennessee at Tennessee would be as difficult as winning a Final Four game," Pearl said. "That's what it would be very much what it's equated to... So you want to be playing great teams at the end of the season because it's a barometer for where you are. Just a standpoint from the math, playing Tennessee on the road would be the biggest NET gainer, if you could get it, of any game we've played all season long."

Auburn at Tennesee is set for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN. Kentucky vs. Arkansas is at 1 p.m. CT on CBS.