Bruce Pearl was prepared to delay Auburn’s flight to Oxford, Miss., on Monday afternoon.

The Auburn coach wanted to take advantage of as much prep time as possible before his team boarded for its trip to Ole Miss, even if it meant a behind-schedule arrival.

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“You’d love to have about a month to prepare for Kermit Davis, instead of a day and a half,” Pearl said. “They’re so well-coached and so well-drilled. I might have to postpone the plane to get ready for him today. It just takes that long. They do so many things. They do so many things well.”

No. 21 Auburn (12-3, 2-1 SEC) made its flight out of Auburn University Regional Airport on Monday afternoon, as it takes its show back on the road for an 8 p.m. showdown with Ole Miss (8-7, 0-3) at The Pavilion on Tuesday, with the game airing on ESPNU. The Tigers are looking to build off their best win to date — a 72-59 win against then-No. 13 Arkansas last Saturday at Neville Arena — as they head into a stretch that includes four of their next six games away from the friendly confines of The Jungle to close out January.

Along with the trip to Ole Miss, Auburn will travel to LSU, South Carolina and West Virginia this month, with home games against Mississippi State and Texas A&M mixed in there. It will be a pivotal stretch for a Tigers team that has struggled away from Neville Arena so far this season; Auburn is 1-2 in true road games and 2-1 in neutral-site matchups (both wins coming in Cancun, with the loss coming against Memphis in Atlanta last month). Pearl’s squad has dropped three of its last four games away from Neville Arena, with last month’s win at Washington the lone outlier.

“So, obviously, you can see what kind of mood I’m in this morning,” Pearl said in a lighthearted manner, attempting not to get too caught up in the aftermath of his team’s big win against Arkansas while bracing for the stretch ahead.

This string of road games beginning with Davis and Ole Miss is a fitting challenge for Auburn, even if the Rebels’ record may not indicate it. Ole Miss is winless to open SEC play, but those three losses have come against the top-two teams in the league — Tennessee at home and Alabama on the road—while the other came against rival Mississippi State. The Rebels led the Vols by as many as 10 before falling by four. They were then throttled by the Tide in Tuscaloosa before fading down the stretch in Starkville, Miss., on Saturday.

“I just don’t know how it starts any harder,” Pearl said. “So, you can’t judge them necessarily by their start.”

Even if you discount the Rebels’ start to league play, Davis’ teams have been an interesting matchup for Pearl’s squads over the years. Since Davis took over at Ole Miss, the Rebels and Tigers have exchanged season sweeps over the last four years; Auburn won both meetings last season and in 2019-20, while Ole Miss swept the series in 2020-21 and 2018-19. Davis also won two of three against Pearl and Auburn while at Middle Tennessee State between 2014-17.

“It’s just a hard prep because they’re so versatile,” Pearl said. “They do so many different things offensively that are well-thought-out. It’s a game that you’d like to have a lot of time to prepare for.”

Instead, the Tigers will get a quick turnaround from Saturday’s exhilarating win against the Razorbacks as they head to Oxford on Tuesday night. Pearl identified three keys for Auburn to improve its road play and take advantage of the upcoming stretch of games — a nearly monthlong run of seemingly favorable matchups before traveling to Tennessee on Feb. 4. Only one of Auburn’s next seven games are currently Quadrant 1 matchups, while three are Quadrant 2, two are Quadrant 3 and one is a Quadrant 4 matchup. It’s a span of games Auburn needs to take advantage of to supplement its resume and avoid damaging losses.

To do that, particularly with the away games during that stretch, Pearl wants to see his team limit turnovers, cut down on fouls and see an uptick in shooting percentages.

All easier said than done, of course, particularly on the road. But Auburn “really showed” Pearl something during its win against Arkansas, and that has bred a little more optimism about where the Tigers stand two weeks into the new year.

“We’ve got to stop fouling because our defense is pretty good,” Pearl said. “And then, you know, we probably shot it better at home, and it was great to see, and I think we can — I think we can continue to do that. It’s going to be key. Not turn it over, shoot it better. And stop fouling defensively. If those three areas we can clean up, we’ll play better. We have a chance.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.