AUBURN | Any road win in the SEC is big. No. 2 Auburn has already earned two tough ones.

With Saturday afternoon’s 66-63 comeback win at South Carolina, the Tigers are one of just two league teams with two road wins.

No. 5 Alabama is the other after a 94-88 win at No. 10 Texas A&M Saturday night.

The road is as tough as it’s ever been in the SEC. And it can be doubly tough for the Tigers, which could move up to No. 1 in the polls Monday.

There’s a giant target on AU’s back every time they step into an opposing arena.

Current No. 1 Tennessee learned that lesson the hard way earlier this week getting blown out 73-43 at No. 8 Florida Tuesday night. The Volunteers bounced back for a key 74-70 road win at Texas Saturday.

“This is what it's going to be every night in the league,” said AU coach Bruce Pearl. “That's just what it's going to be. And road wins are going to be hard to get.

“I think the key is going to be, you can't be too affected by losing or too affected by winning. You've just gotta get to the next one.”

Auburn saw a 17-point lead whittled down to three over the final five minutes of Tuesday night’s 87-82 win at Texas. It was even tougher in Columbia Saturday in a tight second that saw neither team lead by more than three points over the final 16 minutes.

With All-American Johni Broome out with an ankle injury, AU held USC scoreless over the final 5:18 to secure the three-point win and improve to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.

“We all stepped up. Twenty-three points in the second half and they don't score in the final five minutes? That's just the will to win right there,” said Pearl.

The Tigers seven remaining road games will be even bigger challenges. AU plays at Georgia next Saturday, which is coming off back-to-back home wins over No. 8 Kentucky and No. 17 Oklahoma.

The rest of the road schedule includes LSU Jan. 29, No. 23 Ole Miss Feb. 1, Vanderbilt Feb. 11, No. 5 Alabama Feb. 15, No. 8 Kentucky March 1 and No. 10 Texas A&M March 4.

Auburn hosts No. 14 Mississippi State Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.