With a trip to Hawaii to play in the 2024 Maui Invitational against No. 5 Iowa State and a slew of other top-ranked teams, it would be easy for No. 4 Auburn to overlook its opponent tonight in North Alabama. But what the Lions have done this season, and how they played in Neville Arena two seasons ago, has Bruce Pearl and his Tigers locked in so to avoid the upset.

"Tony Pujol does a terrific job at North Alabama," the Auburn head coach said. "They came in a couple years ago, and boy, it was, I think was it was 23-22 at one time, and it was probably about a five-point game at half. They shoot the three really well as a team. And they've already gone on the road and beat Air Force on the road. They've got a good road win."

The Lions are led by guard Jacari Lane, who is averaging 22.8 points per game and shooting 44.8 percent from behind the three-point line. The junior also leads UNA in assists (4.2) and steals (3.0) per game, while forward Corneilous Williams comes down with 8.8 rebounds per game.

"Lane is a terrific scoring guard," Pearl said. "He's got great range. He's really slippery. Their point guard, probably their best player. And Daniel Ortiz transferred from UAB. He had a really good year at UAB. Another guard that can score at a number of different levels."

As for having a letdown following the big win against Houston last Saturday and the victory against Kent State on Wednesday, Pearl isn't concerned about that.

"I think there's enough new players in that locker room that are having their first experience that they're still so excited about playing, because this is just their fourth game, and so that helps," he said.

The Tigers are still learning how they fit with each other as the rotation includes several newcomers. Denver Jones knows how valuable it is to have several games under their belt going into Monday's matchup and the tough tests in Maui.

"I mean, it's very beneficial," Jones said. "Obviously, we've figured out how deep our team is. I feel like there's no real dropoff, for real, once you go to the bench. You see how Chaney's playing when coming off the bench. Miles, at one point, was coming off the bench. Now he's starting. It just goes to show how anybody on our team can be in the starting five."

The Tigers and Lions tip off at 8 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.