The Tigers were called for seven fouls with less than five minutes to go in the first half of Auburn's matchup against Georgia on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs? Just one. Against Ole Miss on Saturday in Oxford, the Rebels weren't called for a foul until 19 seconds left in the first half.

An officiating error? Not according to Bruce Pearl.

"We obviously haven't been very effective drawing fouls," the Auburn coach said on Thursday.

That resembles what Pearl said following the Tigers' 83-60 victory over the Dawgs, as he stated their lack of ability to get to the rim. Auburn has attempted just seven free throws in the first halves of the last two games compared to their opponents' 14. Those numbers were better against the Rebels (12 attempts), but against Georgia, the Tigers shot just six in the final 20 minutes.

That could be a major storyline as the Tigers host Kentucky on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the SEC. While on the season, the Wildcats are attempting fewer free throws per game (16.2 to Auburn's 18.3), John Calipari's squad have gone to the line 20 or more times in three of their five SEC games, including 26 in Wednesday's victory at Texas A&M.

The lack of free-throw attempts hasn't hurt the Tigers yet as they have run off 14 straight wins, including the first six conference games, but Pearl is hoping to see the number of trips to the line go up as the season progresses.

"We're obviously not doing a good enough job of driving in and into contact," Pearl reiterated.

You can be sure the coach burns that into his players' minds prior to Saturday.