Ask Bruce Pearl to name a more difficult environment for he and the Auburn Tigers to open SEC play and you might leave him stammering.

“Probably not a tougher place to open, just because of the fanbase and the intensity, the noise,” Pearl said of Arkansas’ Bud Walton Arena. “Last time we were there, we were No. 1 in the country and got court-stormed.”

When the Tigers see the Razorbacks Saturday, they won’t do so ranked No. 1. They will, however, bring with them a six-game win streak and a fresh No. 25 ranking. And through that six-game stretch, Auburn has outscored its opponents by an average of 24 points.

But the task is taller now as the Tigers waltz into conference play.

“The next step will be as the size and athleticism and the physicality increases night in and night out,” Pearl said. “If Joe Lunardi is right and there’s potentially nine (SEC) teams going into the NCAA tournament, virtually every night it’s a pick ‘em.”

Surely that means Pearl and the Tigers will make adjustments – even if only minor – to their preparation and game planning to meet the intensity of the SEC schedule ahead, doesn’t it?

Afraid not.

As the age-old cliché goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“It’s exactly the same,” Pearl said of Auburn’s preparation as the Tigers turn the page to SEC play. “It’s not superstition, I just like the routine of what we do and how we do it.”

Auburn is set to open SEC play against two of the conference’s top teams in Arkansas and Texas A&M – both teams the media voted in the top-three of the conference during the preseason.

However, in not changing the way the Tigers prepare, he’s sending a message to his team.

“One of the reasons why I coach the same way, one of the reasons I practice the same way and I don’t change, is so that they don’t see me get any more excited about playing Arkansas than Arkansas State,” Pearl said. “They just don’t. I’m the same. I want them to be excited about playing every opponent.”

Come tipoff Saturday afternoon, Pearl’s philosophy of keeping things the same will continue.

Auburn has started the same five guys since Nov. 29 against Virginia Tech. And while Pearl could, in theory, toy with that Saturday, it isn’t expected.

But regardless of which five guys trot out onto the floor for tipoff, the Tigers’ deep bench will still be put on display – something many coaches are hesitant to do at the start of league play.

“A lot of coaches will play a bunch of guys in nonconference, then get into conference play and shorten the bench,” Pearl said. “I’m not going to.”

And that isn’t Pearl being stubborn or stuck in his ways – that’s Pearl doing what he believes is best for the Tigers until proven otherwise.

Auburn ranks as the seventh-top team in the country in terms of bench points and the No. 1 team in the SEC as the Tigers’ bench averages 37.62 points per game. Right on Auburn’s heels at No. 8 in the nation is Arkansas, which averages 36.92 points per game.

“These 11 guys deserve what they’re getting,” Pearl said. “They’ve just gotta be productive when they’re on the floor.”

All that said, while Auburn still hopes to use its deep bench to its advantage, Pearl says the Tigers’ best players will have to bring their best stuff every time they take the floor – something that wasn’t always the case in nonconference play.

“We’ve got balance and we’ve got depth. It helps us in foul trouble or god forbid and injury,” Pearl said. “But now that we’re where we’re at right now – conference play – our best players have to gotta be there for us to win. They just (do).”