AUBURN | Auburn comes into Wednesday night’s SEC opener against Arkansas second in the SEC in 3-point shot attempts but just eighth making 32.5 percent from beyond the arc.

It’s an area Bruce Pearl would like to see the Tigers improve on but he also knows those shots will become more difficult in conference play.

“Right now, we’re making nine a game, which is a lot,” Pearl said. “I would be thrilled if we could continue to average making nine. I don’t know that are shooting percentages are going to improve simply because of the quality of the defenses we’ll be playing against.

“I would love to see a couple of our guys that are better shooter’s by percentage shoot better whether it be Devan Cambridge, Jamal Johnson, JT Thor or Jaylin Williams. I think all those guys can shoot a better percentage than what they’re shooting. It’s just hard to ask them to do that now that we’re starting conference play.”

Cambridge leads the team with 45 3-point attempts but is making just 22.2 percent, which ranks 10th on the team. Johnson is second with 44 attempts and ranks sixth making 29.5 percent.

Freshman Justin Powell leads Auburn and is fourth in the SEC shooting .514 from 3-point range with the fourth-most attempts on the team.

The Razorbacks, off to an 8-0 start, rank fourth in the SEC allowing 61.6 points per game and second holding opponents to 27.5 percent shooting from 3-point range.

“Arkansas is fourth in the country in blocked shots and they do a great job defending the 3-ball because of their length, their ball pressure and the quickness that they have,” Pearl said.

Tip-off at Auburn Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.