It's been more than 69 years since Auburn and Texas have battled on the basketball court. On Tuesday night in Austin, the No. 2 Tigers and Longhorns play each other for the first time as conference rivals in Texas' first SEC home game.

The result might come down to which backcourt plays the best that decides who comes out a winner.

"This Texas team has probably got the best collection of perimeter players that we've played," Bruce Pearl said. "There are six guys — (Jordan) Pope, (Tre) Johnson, (Tramon) Mark, (Arthur) Kaluma, (Chendall) Weaver and (Julian) Larry — those six perimeter guys, together, I think are the most talented group that we've played."

Johnson, Kaluma and Pope all average double digits in points per game, combining to put up 44.4 per outing. Johnson leads the way with 19 points per game, and all three shoot better than 41 percent from behind the three-point line.

Pearl knows what his guards are up against with the freshman Johnson.

"Obviously, Johnson is a top-10 or so NBA pick as a freshman and is second in the league in scoring," he said. "He leads them in a lot of categories—just a terrific talent."

The Tigers will try to counterbalance Texas' attack with the length of their guards, especially Chad Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones, who Pearl considers two of the best defensive guards in the nation. It's on the defensive side of the floor that gets Baker-Mazara into the game.

"I mean, for Chad, like many things, it's just when he gets excited about it, and I think he's just been more consistent this year with everything his preparation, and he's always been able to instinctively do it," Pearl said. "He's got great length, great anticipation."

The Tigers and Longhorns tip off at 8 p.m. CT, with the game airing on ESPN2.