AUBURN | It’s set to be a showdown Saturday in the SEC as the top four teams face off with just three regular season games remaining.

No. 3 Auburn plays at No. 17 Tennessee while No. 6 Kentucky plays at No. 18 Arkansas. The Tigers enter the weekend in first place with a one-game lead over the Wildcats and two-game lead over both the Volunteers and Razorbacks.

Auburn has lost two consecutive road games but is coming off a 77-64 home win over Ole Miss Wednesday night.

“We are getting really close to March, and we've got a long way to go as far as starting to play better,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “We're not where we want to be. The good news is that there's some room to get better.”

If the Tigers lose in Knoxville Saturday or stumble down the stretch, Pearl won’t blame fatigue for their issues. Every team in the conference is in the same position and AU’s has one of the league’s deepest rosters.

“I think now they can sort of see the forest from the trees where we’re a couple of weeks away from the SEC Tournament. Three weeks away from the NCAA Tournament. They see it,” said Pearl.

“Now we’re getting ready to get to the postseason. I think that definitely it’s time for a second wind … I think the grind is over. We may not play as well or we may lose, but I don’t think at this point it’s going to be because of the grind of the season. I think that’s been the last few weeks.”

The UK-ARK game is 1 p.m. CT on CBS while AU-UT is scheduled for 3 p.m. on ESPN.