AUBURN | No. 1 Auburn is coming off only its second loss of the season. The race for the SEC regular season championship is tight with seven games to go.

For the Tigers to win only their fifth title in school history and second in four years, they’ll need to bounce back in a big way Saturday morning against Texas A&M.

“I think the response was get to the next play. Let’s get to the next game,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “Nobody was pointing fingers. We’ll see how we respond from the loss but the bottom line is we’ve got to execute better offensively, we’ve got to continue to get better looks. We need more guys to be able to break the defense down off the bounce.”

Auburn, 22-2 overall and 10-1 in the SEC, enters the weekend just a game ahead of Kentucky and two games ahead of both Arkansas and Tennessee in the conference standings.

After starting 4-0 in conference play, the Aggies have lost seven consecutive games to fall to 15-9 overall and 4-7 in the SEC.

Texas A&M is second in the SEC in steals averaging 10.7 per game and leads the conference with a +4.75 turnover margin. Shooting guard Quenton Jackson leads the team averaging 13.0 points per game. Forward Henry Coleman averages 11.0 points and 5.9 rebounds.

The last seven games have included a six-point loss to Kentucky, a three-point loss at Arkansas, a six-point loss at LSU and a four-point loss to Missouri.

“They’ve been in a lot of games,” said Pearl. “They mix up pressure, change up defenses, they turn you over a lot. They turn you over by trapping and they do a good job off those traps. They double-team the post. They just do a few things that not everybody does in the league, which makes it a challenging preparation.

“Our deal is the same that’s it’s always been. We’re going to try to get better and see if we can win.”

Tip-off at the soon-to-be-named Neville Arena is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.