As Auburn men’s basketball prepares for one of its biggest remaining games of the season, it does so on a slightly different schedule.

The week is somewhat of a bye week for the top-ranked Tigers, not playing another game until Saturday’s showdown with No. 6 Tennessee. It means Auburn gets a full week to prepare for the top 10 matchup after a 70-68 win at Georgia Saturday afternoon.

“We’re just going to try to have as normal a week as we possibly can, to beat the very best teams in our league. And certainly, Tennessee is one,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said in an interview with AL.com at the Birmingham Tip Off Club Monday.

Auburn currently sits 5-0 in Southeastern Conference play and 17-1 overall, but Pearl still mentioned a few areas where he wants to see improvement as SEC play continues.

“We’ve had three road wins in last possessions that we’re going to have to do a better job of executing down the stretch. We’ve lost a couple of leads that we’ll need to do a better job of protecting,” Pearl said. “We’ll work on that some this week.”

The team practiced as usual on Monday, despite Pearl not being present due to obligations in Birmingham. Auburn will take Tuesday off, but practice throughout the rest of the week in preparation for Saturday’s game.

Pearl said the only thing that changes without playing a midweek game is the team’s ability to get more rest, something that never hurts during the course of a grueling SEC schedule.

“Sometimes that rest can be mental as well as physical,” Pearl said.

While mental rest is important, the physical rest is crucial for an Auburn team that has been without its best player for the past two games.

All-American center Johni Broome has not played since spraining his ankle in Auburn’s Jan. 11 win over South Carolina. There’s still no timetable for his return, but Pearl said Broome likely won’t practice at the beginning the week, but they will “probably evaluate him later on this week.”

“He’s working really hard to get back,” Pearl said, “And it’s hard in this league without your best player.”

Saturday’s matchup with Tennessee is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be streaming live on ESPN. ESPN’s College GameDay will also be live from Neville Arena that morning, running from 10-11 a.m.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m