The last time Auburn and Georgia faced each other, the top-ranked Tigers withstood a late rally by the Bulldogs to pull out a 70-68 victory in Athens. In that game, Bruce Pearl's squad was without National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome, who had injured his ankle a week earlier in the win at South Carolina.

Now, the Tigers are close to full health with Broome in the lineup, a factor that will play huge against Georgia star freshman Asa Newell.

"I think it's obviously going to be a huge boost for us," Pearl said. "He's the best player in college basketball, and Georgia has got a really deep front line. And so, we were definitely down bodies at Georgia."

Newell finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the first matchup, with several Tigers, including freshman Ja'Heim Hudson, taking turns guarding him. Now, Newell has to go up against Broome, Dylan Cardwell and company as the Bulldogs look to strengthen their NCAA Tournament hopes with an upset victory in Neville Arena.

"I mean, Georgia has had the week off, and so they're going to be, obviously, this is probably the most important game," Pearl said. "I think the Auburn game there, where they were undefeated at home and nationally ranked, that was one of the, one of their bigger games. And I think this one here now simply because of what the map does for them."

For Pearl, Mike White's team reminds him of the Arkansas team that the Tigers faced on Wednesday night, especially on defense, where the Bulldogs hold opponents to an average of 40.6 percent from the floor, good for 36th in college basketball. As for the offensive side of the floor, the Auburn coach knows precisely what Georgia will try to do.

"They've been going inside more and more offensively, feeling really comfortable with that," Pearl said. "And you know, they've got a good inside-out attack. They haven't shot the three well by percentage too, but because they got some guys that can shoot it, and they're going to continue to."

But for Pearl, it will be how Georgia guards Auburn that will make the difference.

"They're going to roll as far as their defense takes them," he said. "They're a really good defensive team."

Auburn (24-2, 12-1 SEC) and Georgia (16-10, 4-9) tip off on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT with the game airing on ESPN.