Auburn men’s basketball has already achieved a lot in 2025.

The Tigers won the Southeastern Conference regular season title with a week left in the season, matched a program-record for wins in a regular season and likely have the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament wrapped up.

With one conference title already in hand and its NCAA Tournament placement all but decided, one can make the argument that the SEC tournament carries little meaning for Auburn.

That thought process is especially understandable when considering the injuries Auburn dealt with in SEC play, and the risk that three more physical conference games could present.

Even Arkansas coach John Calipari was candid earlier in the week when asked about the SEC tournament and how little it means to his team.

“I don’t care about the conference tournament,” Calipari said on the Chuck and Bo Show. “The tournament that matters is the NCAA tournament. Now. you play that tournament to get the best seed you can get, and if you’re gonna get to the finals, win. Or don’t go to the finals and lose because you’re exhausted and you gotta play on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Despite all of those reasons to take it easy in Nashville, Bruce Pearl and Auburn are looking to avoid that mentality this weekend.

“No, we’re not at all bought into the theory of — next weekend is the more important weekend than this weekend; they’re both very important,” Pearl said when speaking to reporters Wednesday. “This team has demonstrated that they’re great competitors. They don’t want to lose.”

Auburn is coming off two straight losses to end the regular season. The second carried even more sting, losing the home finale to archrivals Alabama on a buzzer-beater in overtime.

Neither Pearl, nor Auburn’s players are ignoring the motivation that comes with that heartbreak.

“We sure have a chip on our shoulder, just because we know the last couple games, we knew that we could have won,” said Auburn starting point guard Denver Jones. “I feel like there’s going to be a statement when we go in there and just play.”

The late losses give the Tigers a little bit of hunger back that could have been lost after wrapping up the regular season title early. Pearl has talked on multiple occasions since the season ended about his best postseason teams not winning anything in the regular season, the opposite scenario from this year’s team.

Both times Auburn has won the conference regular season title under Pearl, the Tigers lost their first SEC tournament game. That’s something Pearl says he wants to change this time around, even if it doesn’t affect the Tigers much in the NCAA tournament.

“Can we be one of only three programs to win both the SEC regular season and the SEC tournament? Can we do that?” Pearl said. “Can we surpass the 2019 team that got to the Final Four? Can we do that? So, there’s a lot of opportunity ahead of us.”

Making history is a theme Pearl has talked about throughout the season. If there’s no other motivation in Nashville, that’s part of it. Auburn has never won both the regular season and tournament in the same season, making this weekend a chance to make history.

Could it be the start of a deep March Madness run? History would suggest that anything can happen, given how the last two seasons in which Auburn won the SEC tournament ended.

If nothing else, though, it’s a chance for the Tigers to right the wrongs of the final week and make history. That seems to be all the motivation Pearl, and his players need.

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