It’s time to get the SEC schedule started and Missouri (11-2) is taking on about the biggest challenge possible as it heads to Auburn (12-1).

Here’s what I’ll be keeping an eye on at 3 p.m. (SEC Network).

Auburn has played about as tough of a non-conference schedule as you’ll see and came out nearly unscathed.

With wins over No. 4 Houston (74-69), No. 5 Iowa State (83-81), No. 12 North Carolina (85-72), Memphis (90-76), and No. 16 Purdue (87-69), and the lone loss coming to No. 9 Duke (84-78), Auburn has put together an incredible resume already.

The other Tigers enter on a five-game winning streak and ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll and No. 1 in the NET rankings.

Do-it-all senior forward/center Johni Broome (6-foot-10, 240 pounds) leads Auburn with 18.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game, while shooting 56.1 percent from the field.

He’s being mocked regularly in the mid second round.

"I think he's a potential Player of the Year," Missouri coach Dennis Gates said of Broome. "... He's playing unselfish basketball. He could easily average 25 to 30 points a game if he wanted to."

Senior guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara (6-7, 180) is next at 12.8 points per game, while bringing down 3.5 rebounds and dishing out 2.8 assists per game. He leads the team with 1.1 steals per contest.

Freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford (6-1, 175) averages 11.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per contest off the bench while shooting 42.2 percent from 3, while senior guard Denver Jones (6-4, 205) averages 11.1 points per game and shoots 47.5 percent from 3.

Senior guard Miles Kelly (6-6, 190) has started 11 games, while graduate center Dylan Cardwell (6-11, 255) has started all 13.

Auburn does not have a 7-footer on roster, so Josh Gray and Peyton Marshall should be the tallest players on the floor.

Auburn shoots 50.8 percent from the field, 37.1 percent from 3 and 75.5 percent from the free-throw line, while holding teams to 38.8 percent from the field, 32.0 percent from 3 and 71.9 percent at the free-throw line.

The other Tigers score 88.3 points per game and allow just 64.8.

Auburn leads the all-time series 10-6 and has won the past four matchups and seven of the past eight.

Mizzou’s most recent win was an 85-73 victory on Feb. 15, 2020, the lone time Missouri won as true visitors was a 70-68 victory on Jan. 11, 2014.

Mizzou’s defense forcing turnovers

Auburn is second in the country at 8.8 turnovers per game, Mizzou is 25th in the country at 16.0 turnovers forced per game.

The best part of the Missouri defense is its ability to create chaos by forcing turnovers and playing in transition.

That will have to happen if the Black & Gold Tigers are going to have a chance against another of the top teams in the country.

"They get shots before turnovers," Gates said. "The things that we can control, we'll control. We don't know when turnovers take place, we just gotta put ourselves in the right positions to at least make it a little bit more difficult at the end of the day."

The foul line

I kind of hate that this is one of the major factors in every Mizzou game now, but it is. It just means everything takes longer.

Mizzou is second in the country at 29.2 free-throw attempts per game and Auburn is 217th in the country with 17.4 fouls per game.

If the Black & Gold are able to get to the line a lot more than Auburn is, that will be one of the recipes for a Mizzou win, or at least a game that stays close throughout.

I don’t want to keep harping on fast starts like I have for the other major games, but this is the first true road test in two months against a team that doesn’t make many mistakes.

If Mizzou comes out and forces its will in the first few minutes, that could go a long way to taking the crowd out of the game as much as possible.

"Handling the environment is going to be the key," Gates said. "We can't allow home court advantage to be played against us. We got to be able to understand the volume of that and we've got to understand the execution."

Otherwise, it’s going to be working through the Auburn defense and keeping up the high-percentage looks we’ve seen the Tigers taking recently.

Caleb Grill is back, but I don’t think that means the Tiger offense should go back to firing up 3-pointers every time down the floor, ever since the Cal game, the Tigers have done a great job of getting the ball inside and working at the rim.

They have the size advantage in this matchup, even if it’s just an inch here or there in the post, so take advantage, keep attacking the rim and get to the free-throw line as much as possible.

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