AUBURN | It’s Bruce Pearl’s AUTLive cancer game. College basketball Gameday will be in Auburn for the first time in school history.

The 17th-ranked Tigers will host No. 13 Kentucky Saturday evening with both teams trying to take a big step forward in the race for the regular season SEC Championship.

For Auburn, it’s the first of three consecutive key matchups in the conference race.

“This group is trying to make history,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We’ve got to play better to be able to do that. These next few games here — Kentucky, at Arkansas, LSU — we’ll really see whether or not we have the ability to step up.”

No. 22 LSU is 7-0 and at the top of the conference standings. The Wildcats are just behind at 6-1 while Auburn is 5-2. The Tigers took one out of three games against Kentucky last season, an 82-80 loss at home and a humbling 80-53 defeat on the road before a thrilling 77-71 overtime win in the NCAA Midwest Regional championship game, earning the program’s first-ever trip to the Final Four.

“When we played them in the Elite Eight, we had a different mindset than we did when we went into their place,” senior Anfernee McLemore said. “We kind of felt like we were on a roll when we went to Kentucky, but when we came to the Elite Eight, we just came to play basketball and play good basketball and win.

“So as long as nobody's focus is on the lights or ESPN coming in or anything like that, just play our brand of basketball, I don't think anyone will have a problem as far as executing our game plan.”

It will take a strong plan and execution for Auburn to beat a UK team that’s second in the SEC in field goal percentage (.462), third in field goal percentage defense (.389), second in free throw percentage (.774), third in rebounding margin (+6.4) and third in blocked shots (102).

Junior center Nick Richards leads UK averaging 14.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. He leads the SEC shooting .673 from the floor. Sophomore guard Ashton Hagans is averaging 13.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and leads the SEC averaging 7.2 assists and 2.2 steals.

“Ashton Hagans is probably the best point guard in the league, like coach (John) Calipari says,” Pearl said. “He just affects winning with his defense, his ability to make plays, his assist-to-turnover ratio, to what kind of competitor he is.

“If Isaac Okoro was a point guard, he’d play like Ashton Hagans and you know how strongly I feel about Isaac and how he affects winning. And then Richards is averaging 19 and 9 on the road, an SEC player of the year candidate, but don’t forget three years ago he was probably one of the top two or three centers in his class, a top 20 player, a McDonald’s All-American.”

Tip-off at Auburn Arena is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT on ESPN.