If anyone knows how hard it is to win at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium, it is Bruce Pearl. The Auburn head coach is 6-7 when taking a team into Nashville, including 3-4 during his time with the Tigers.

And, this season, the Commodores have been almost unbeatable at their place.

"As we go to Vanderbilt and a place where they're 12-1, beaten Tennessee, then they beat Kentucky," Pearl said. "Tennessee was 6, Kentucky was 9. And they're 12-1 there."

That, plus Saturday's loss to Florida, gives the No. 1 Tigers enough incentive to be ready when the tip comes on Tuesday evening. Mark Byington rebuilt the Vanderbilt program since taking the job this past offseason, bringing in 11 players from the transfer portal. That includes guard Jason Edwards, who leads the Commodores by averaging 17.6 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from three.

"Edwards is a kid that, a little bit of a late bloomer, but proved at North Texas that he's an unbelievable scorer," Pearl said. "He is."

Add in Devin McGlockton, a transfer from Boston College, who averages 11.3 points and a team-leading 7.9 rebounds per game, plus AJ Hoggard (10.6 points per game), and you have a team that can score in multiple ways.

"Devin McGlockton is a tough kid," Pearl said. "BC kid. Gotta throw that one in there. Hoggard, you know, was one of the better guards in the Big Ten at Michigan State. One of the better guards in our league right now."

And, as always, with a game being held at Memorial, you have the disadvantage of not being used to coaching from underneath the basket instead of along the sidelines.

"It'd be like if we asked Coach Freeze to coach our football team from the end zone, that's what it'd be like," Pearl said. "It's very different for the players. It's very different for the coaches. But if Coach Freeze coached half of the season from the end zone, like Vanderbilt does, he'd get used to it. Big advantage."

Auburn and Vanderbilt tip off at 6 p.m. CT, with the game airing on SEC Network.