This is an opinion column.

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Bruce Pearl hasn’t had much to stew over this season, but he picked a perfect moment to challenge his team after Auburn’s loss to Duke.

His words that night have stuck with me ever since, and even after Auburn began conference play with such an impressive win against Missouri.

Auburn (13-1, 1-0) defeated Mizzou 84-68 over the weekend. The Plainsmen are at Texas on Tuesday night (8 p.m.) and then travel to South Carolina for a Saturday battle against the Gamecocks (noon). Every single team in the SEC that played at home over weekend scored a victory against their opponents, but this league will be won on the road.

“Every one of these suckers is going to be precious,” Pearl said during his post-game interview. “Hopefully they’re not precious and few…

“We’re good enough to win every game on the road, we’re good enough to lose every game at home. Did you hear what I said? That’s how good the league is.”

The game against Missouri is noteworthy because Pearl is now tied with Joel Eaves for the most wins by a coach in the history of Auburn basketball (213).

“It means a lot to me because I’m a historian and stuff matters,” Pearl said.

Pearl is one of my all-time favorite coaches for his fiery spirit, passionate convictions and love of his players. In this age of the transfer portal, it says a lot about Pearl’s character and ability that so many players returned for this season. They play for each other and that’s special.

Pearl started at Auburn in 2014 after serving a three-year suspension imposed by the NCAA. He was grateful for the new opportunity and has been motivated to be the best in the country ever since. It’s one thing to win at North Carolina or Kansas. Pearl has created a slice of college basketball heaven in Auburn, Alabama, and I could make the argument that it’s because of Pearl that the SEC has risen to the top of the college basketball world.

Alabama and Tennessee weren’t about to be left behind.

Football is king in the SEC, but the basketball runs deep, too. With 13 teams currently in the top 50 of the KenPom ratings, the SEC is the toughest conference for men’s basketball in the country. Auburn is No.1 in the KenPom and Alabama is No.9 after its impressive SEC home opener against Oklahoma on Saturday.

Auburn is 6-1 in Quad 1 wins, which is the most in the country. No other team in the SEC has four. Alabama is 3-2.

So far, Auburn’s lone Quad 1 loss was at Duke. Every game is big when the team is considered the best in the country, but Pearl really wanted the victory at Duke back in December. You could see it in his eyes after the game and hear it in his voice.

“They have good players, but we have good players, too,” Pearl said.

Auburn is awash with offensive talent, but the Tigers were my preseason pick to win the national championship based on defense. The sum of the parts is greater than any individual player, and that’s pretty good considering Johni Broome seems like an early favorite for college basketball’s player of the year.

As good as Auburn is at the beginning of conference play, the Tigers will need to rise to an even higher level before this season is over. And that’s Pearl’s biggest fear with this team. Do they have the capability? Are they peaking too soon?

After the game against Duke, Pearl mentioned that the knock on his team is that maybe they don’t have much room for improvement. I’m not so sure about that, but Pearl wanted to make the most of his only loss of the season.

Perhaps younger teams like Alabama have a higher ceiling. It’s only a theory, but maybe so. We’ll see in March.

Auburn isn’t done evolving, though. That’s why one situation in the Missouri game stood out more than most.

Auburn guard Tahaad Pettiford is one of the best freshmen in the country. He scored 20 points in that loss to Duke. Against Missouri, he had 10 points in 19 minutes. Not bad, but Pettiford is still learning. Near the end of the game, he appeared to say something to an opponent that one of the officials didn’t like.

Pearl sat Pettiford down on the bench and then offered his budding star a few words of wisdom.

Pettiford has room to grow. So does freshman Jahki Howard, who is coming out of his shell after that embarrassing moment on the plane on the way to Houston.

For a team that’s already the best in the country, the small failures along the way might end up being the most important moments of all.

BE HEARD

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”