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Bruce Pearl knows that No. 1 Auburn will be challenged at Vanderbilt as the Tigers try to bounce back from their first Southeastern Conference loss on Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. A 90-81 defeat to Florida on Saturday was also Auburn's first home loss since Feb. 17, 2024, but it didn't drop the Tigers (21-2, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) from their perch atop the Top 25. Vanderbilt (17-6, 5-5) has built a 12-1 home record after knocking off Texas 86-78 on Saturday. The Commodores' lone home loss came Jan. 7 against then-No. 14 Mississippi State. "You've got to embrace the grind," Pearl said. "There's no question it's a grind. It's a grind for everybody. We go to Vanderbilt where they've only lost once at home and have beaten Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee. We know that is going to be a tough place to win." Auburn senior forward Johni Broome leads five Tigers players in double figures with 18.1 points per game. He also pulls down a team best 10.9 rebounds. He had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists against Florida and Miles Kelly scored a game-high 22 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Gators' sharp shooting. Even though the Tigers had their 14-game winning streak snapped, Pearl saw the potential for a loss was creeping up on the horizon. "We've had greater effort-energy or have matched the effort-energy of every team that we've played," Pearl said. "I knew we were due for a letdown." Against Texas, Vanderbilt overcame a 39-35 halftime deficit to scrap their way to victory. Neither team lit it up from the field -- both barely shot 40 percent from the floor -- but the Commodores held a 25-11 advantage in second-chance points. Vanderbilt also held a 26-17 edge in bench points, where it was led by Jaylen Carey's breakout performance. The James Madison transfer followed coach Mark Byington to Vanderbilt and had a double-double with game-high tallies of 18 points and 14 rebounds. "I'm just trusting my guys more," Carey said. "I'm kind of like the guy who knew the whole system, so it was kind of rough for me at first because I'm having to teach everybody, like if we just trust the offense it's going to come to all of us. That was my frustration at the beginning of the year, but now it's starting to come through more, just putting everybody in positions that I know they can excel at for sure." Tyler Nickel and Jason Edwards each tallied 17 points for Vanderbilt. Edwards leads the Commodores in scoring at 17.6 points per game. Byington noted there are no easy games on the rest of the Commodores' schedule, and effort matters for Vanderbilt. "I think we've got to be gritty and pesky," Byington said. "Like, we've got to play hard, extremely hard. If we don't do that, we're not going to win any games or many more games. So we understand that. We coach that way, our guys get it and they're built that way. They're competitive. They're going to play really, really hard and compete." --Field Level Media

Auburn barely edged out rival Alabama to remain No. 1 and Florida jumped three places to give the Southeastern Conference the top three spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday. Auburn (21-2) earned 34 first-place votes to remain ahead of Alabama (20-3), which received 23 first-place votes. The Gators (20-3), who beat Auburn last week, climbed to No. 3 behind three first-place votes. Duke (20-3) and Tennessee (20-4) round out the top 5. Houston (19-4), Purdue (19-5), Texas A&M (18-5), St. John's (21-3) and Iowa State (18-5) comprise the remainder of the top 10. Arizona (17-6) was the week's big jumper, moving up seven spots to No. 13, while No. 18 Marquette (18-6) and No. 25 Maryland (18-6) both dropped seven spots. Clemson (No. 23) returned to the poll after upsetting Duke, and Creighton (No. 24) is back after two wins last week, including a victory over Marquette. Illinois and UConn fell out of the poll. The rest of the Top 25: 11. Michigan State (19-4) 12. Texas Tech (18-5) 13. Arizona (17-6) 14. Memphis (20-4) 15. Kentucky (16-7) 16. Wisconsin (19-5) 17. Kansas (16-7) 18. Marquette (18-6) 19. Ole Miss (18-6) 20. Michigan (18-5) 21. Missouri (17-6) 22. Mississippi State (17-6) 23. Clemson (19-5) 24. Creighton (18-6) 25. Maryland (18-6) --Field Level Media

Grant Nelson and Chris Youngblood scored 15 points apiece to help No. 3 Alabama post an 85-81 victory over Arkansas on Saturday night in Southeastern Conference play at Fayetteville, Ark. Mouhamed Dioubate had 14 points and Mark Sears added 11 as the Crimson Tide (20-3, 9-1 SEC) moved into a first-place tie with top-ranked Auburn in the SEC standings. Alabama has won six straight games and 14 of its last 15. Zvonimir Ivisic scored a career-best 27 points and collected seven rebounds for the Razorbacks (14-9, 3-7), who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Adou Thiero scored 22 points and Johnell Davis added 13 points. Alabama shot 54.8 percent from the field but was just 5 of 19 (26.3 percent) from behind the arc. Arkansas shot 43.1 percent from the field and was 7 of 20 (35.0 percent) from 3-point range. Ivisic made five 3-pointers and also had three blocked shots and three steals. Arkansas trailed by 15 with five minutes to go before ripping off 12 consecutive points. Billy Richmond III delivered a thunderous flying dunk to pull the Razorbacks within six and Ivisic followed with a trey to bring Arkansas within 79-76 with 2:57 to play. Sears scored on a layup 31 seconds later to stop the Razorbacks' run, and the Crimson Tide clinched the win when Chris Youngblood split two free throws with 1.4 seconds left. Alabama scored 14 of the first 20 points in the second half to turn a six-point lead into a 54-40 advantage. A short time later, Youngblood converted a four-point play and Nelson added a basket to make it 60-43 with 13:14 remaining in the game. The Crimson Tide led by 18 a short time later before the Razorbacks made a push. A 3-pointer by Davis brought Arkansas within 75-62 with 5:55 left in the game. Nelson made two free throws to give Alabama a 79-64 lead with five minutes left before Arkansas began its frantic dash. Alabama shot 59.3 percent from the field in the half while taking a 40-34 lead at the break. Ivisic scored 15 in the half for the Razorbacks. Two treys in 30 seconds by Ivisic pulled the Razorbacks within 31-30 with 7:10 left before Alabama controlled the rest of the half. --Field Level Media