As the clock in Coleman Coliseum approached 11 p.m. CT less than a hour after Alabama’s Wednesday night blowout win over Florida, it was already time for Nate Oats to turn the page to Auburn.

“They’ve got a 24-hour head start on us,” Oats said of the Tigers, which lost Tuesday night at Texas A&M. “I’m gonna cut this thing short here and get to studying some Auburn film, because we’ve got some catch-up work to do here.”

The Tide’s annual home-and-home with its rival falls late on the calendar this year, with Saturday’s meeting in Neville Arena to be followed by a rematch March 1 in Coleman Coliseum. Alabama’s arrival in Auburn will be greeted by College Gameday and an ESPN broadcast as Auburn tries to knock off the third-ranked Tide, which remains undefeated in the SEC at 11-0.

“I’ve seen them play enough,” Oats said Wednesday. “I haven’t in-depth and studied them. I’ve seen them play other teams that we’ve been scouting. One thing I know for sure is they’re going to play as hard as a team play all year at their place. And their crowd is going to be really into it. They’ve got an unbelievable atmosphere to play games in.

“They’ve got a good team that’s going to play really hard, that’s really well-coached, so it’s going to be a tough road game for us.”

Oats is 3-3 against Auburn since taking over as Alabama’s coach in 2019. Auburn swept the series last year after Alabama won both games the season prior on its way to an SEC title. During Oats’ first season, his unranked Tide knocked off then-No. 4 Auburn in Tuscaloosa before falling in overtime across the state.

“It’s become a top-25 game,” Oats said. “[Bruce Pearl] has done an unbelievable job. The year before I got here, he was in the Final Four. Last year’s team was unbelievable. This year’s team, he’s competing with everybody. They’re one of the best teams in this league, and he lost a lot from last year.

“They will 100 percent be ready for us. We all know that.”

Auburn was not ranked in either major poll this week, with its absence from the Associated Press top-25 ending a program-record streak.

Alabama is No. 3 in this week’s AP poll, receiving at least one first-place vote for the second time over the past three weeks. And although former Auburn star Charles Barkley does not have a vote, he offered his take on Alabama’s place in college basketball last month.

“Alabama’s the best team in the country, honestly,” Barkley said Jan. 18 on Next Round Live.

Alabama has included Barkley’s comment in its pregame hype video it plays before player introductions in Coleman Coliseum the home games since.

Alabama rose to No. 2 in NET ranking Thursday, its highest of all-time. Tennessee had held that spot since Jan. 2 until its loss Wednesday night to Vanderbilt. Auburn is No. 32 in NET.

In ESPN’s latest bracket projections for the NCAA tournament, Alabama is a projected No. 1 seed and Auburn is predicted to receive a No. 9 seed.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.