AUBURN | There are many storylines going into Wednesday night's matchup between Auburn and Florida in Neville Arena. The Tigers begin their defense of last year's SEC regular season title. Colin Castleton, the center who Bruce Pearl admits he is tired of getting his butt beat by, tries to provide more nightmares for Auburn. And, it will be friends versus friends as Pearl and his son Steven face new Florida head coach Todd Golden, a longtime friend and former assistant under Bruce.

But with that matchup comes an important moment in Southeastern Conference history as two Jewish head coaches will face off for the first time ever.

"I think it shows how far we have come as a country," Steven Pearl said. "You have African-American coaches in the SEC. You have Jewish-American coaches in the SEC in one of the best conferences in all of college basketball. That just shows you a lot."

There are currently 10 head coaches of the Jewish faith in college basketball. Pearl became the first in SEC basketball history when he was hired in 2005 at Tennessee. Golden, who served on Pearl's staff at Auburn from 2014-16, became the second when he was named Florida's head coach this past March.

Steven, who played with Golden on Team USA in the Maccabi Games, winning a gold medal in 2006, remembered the moment he heard of the news of Golden's hiring. He might have put a little scare in his father when it happened, too.

"I had my Apple watch on at halftime of the Jacksonville State game, and we were up–we were playing okay; I don't know how much we were up at halftime," Steven said. "I looked at my watch and got a buzz from ESPN that Todd Golden...I literally said out loud, Holy...really loud in the game. B.P. said, 'What's wrong?'

"'Nothing, nothing, we're good–Todd got the job.'"

And, while the younger Pearl said he never has an opposing coach over for dinner the night before a game, he will make the exception with the Gators' head man. He might even try to get some secret information out of his friend.

"I told my wife, I told her — I was like, get the red wine ready just in case Coach Golden does come over, because we're gonna try and get some of the game plan out of him as best we possibly can," Steven said while laughing. "So yeah, we're going to have dinner with Megan, Maddie and Jake, and then Todd will come a little bit later after he's done with the team. He's probably the only coach in America that I would ever be willing to spend any time with the night before a game."

Yet when tip-off arrives on Wednesday, it will be all business between the good friends as they try to lead their teams to a 1-0 record in SEC play. And, much like Duke's Jon Scheyer and Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner will do later this season for the ACC, it will be a historic moment for the conference.

"People give the South a bad rap, but I think it is a wonderful place, a very inclusive place," Steven said. "Obviously, to put Jewish men and American men in positions of power like this it just shows you just how far this country has come and how great of a country we live in. I think it speaks volumes to that."