Bruce Pearl is hopeful that Auburn forward Johni Broome will make his return for Saturday night's top-10 showdown against No. 6 Tennessee.

Johni Broome left Baton Rouge on Wednesday with another reason to be considered the best player in college basketball. Reaching his 12th double-double on the season, No other SEC player has more than six double-doubles this year.

Auburn's athletics department will be seeking approval for $9 million in renovations to Neville Arena at the AU Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 7.

The Auburn Tigers avoided a trap game, beating the LSU Tigers 87-74 as Johni Broome took another step towards player of the year.

The Auburn basketball team picked up an SEC win over LSU on Wednesday as their pursuit of a conference title continues. National Player of the Year

Against Auburn, the Vols’ two leading scorers, Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier, were held to a combined 8-of-26 from the field as Tennessee only put up 51 points. They’ll need a performance similar to that to slow down LSU’s backcourt.

Auburn has endured a few close calls lately. But the unanimous No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll has won 11 consecutive games heading into its Southeastern

The Southeastern Conference is typically known as a football conference, with 13 of the last 18 National Champions in the sport coming from the storied league.

The Auburn Tigers needed a Johni Broome sized spark to get by the 6th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night

Bruce Pearl and top-ranked Auburn are 2-0 without star forward Johni Broome, who hopes to make his return on Saturday night.

On the same day Auburn's Johni Broome suffered an ankle injury at South Carolina that sidelined him for two weeks, Duke's Cooper Flagg scored a career-high 42 points in a victory at Notre Dame. That's when the NPOY race flipped.

The No. 1 Auburn Tigers hit the road to take on LSU after an emotional win against Tennessee. Can Auburn avoid the trap game in Baton Rouge?