When Missouri takes the court against No. 2 Auburn in Neville Arena on Saturday afternoon, it will be 673 days since the Tigers have won a regular-season SEC game after going 0-18 in conference play last season.

Bruce Pearl understands that means Mizzou will be craving a win more than ever to break that streak in each team's SEC opener.

"I tell you right now, they're coming in here hungry," Pearl said. "And they should have a level of confidence. They beat Kansas when they were No. 1. They beat a really good Cal team. They lost by 3 to Illinois, who beat Oregon by 30 last night. They lost their first game at Memphis close. It's a good team."

Like Auburn, Missouri is deep and came come at you in waves. The Tigers have 11 players who play at least 10 minutes per game. Dennis Gates' team is also adept at getting to the charity stripe, ranking second in Division I by shooting an astounding 29.2 free throws per game.

"Let's just put it this way: They do a great job of drawing fouls," Pearl said. "So we've got to continue to do a better job of doing something that we haven't done as well before: Defending aggressively without fouling. There's a noticeable difference in us not bailing out our opponent and putting them on the line."

Mizzou is also good at creating turnovers via steals, coming away with 10.3 per game, good for ninth in Division I. That defense counters an Auburn team ranked first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.21.

The Tigers are led by the guard duo of Mark Mitchell and Tamar Bates, who combine for 26.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Tahaad Pettiford is ready for the challenge.

"They're really good getting downhill and drawing fouls, so just being able to try to contain them and making 'em feel uncomfortable throughout the game to help us win," the freshman said.

And, like his coach, Miles Kelly is certain the black-and-gold Tigers will come in ready to play.

"We just see an aggressive team," the guard said. "They're real hungry. Of course, we know they didn't get a chance to win a game last year in the SEC, so we know this is their first opportunity. They'll be real hungry. We're very mindful of that and we're taking them very seriously in our preparation for that game."

Auburn and Missouri tip off at 3 p.m. CT, with the game airing on the SEC Network.