Gardner-Webb @ Auburn preview

Auburn looks to win its fifth straight when it hosts non-conference foe Gardner-Webb on Wednesday night. The Tigers are in the middle of a three-game homestand, which started with a rout of George Mason on Sunday, while the Runnin' Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing streak with an easy win over South Carolina Upstate on Saturday.

A pair of juniors -- guard David Efianayi (16.8 points) and forward DJ Laster (15.4) -- lead the team offensively, but coach Tim Craft is working on getting his team to play better on the defensive end, with the Bulldogs giving up 80.7 points per contest. That could be trouble against Auburn, which is scoring 88.4 points per game and shooting 47.5 percent from the field. Guards Mustapha Heron (17.4 points) and Bryce Brown (17.3) are in almost a dead heat for the team scoring lead, with Heron having scored just one more point than Brown. Coach Bruce Pearl has a balanced scoring attack, with six players averaging at least 9.1 points per contest.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus

ABOUT GARDNER-WEBB (3-6): There are few times a team can win and play so well, its coach can say he couldn't be happier. That's what the Runnin' Bulldogs did against South Carolina Upstate, shooting 67.4 percent from the floor, connecting on 10-of-14 from 3-point range, recording 24 assists on 29 made field goals and winning the board battle 38-15 in a 21-point rout on Saturday. Yes, the dominant performance was against an Atlantic Sun squad, but the boost of confidence it could give the Bulldogs as they start a three-game string of games on the road could help them be more competitive.

ABOUT AUBURN (6-1): One area that the Tigers have excelled at this season is rebounding, with Pearl's squad leading the SEC and ranking 15th in the nation with an average rebounding margin of plus-10.3. Pearl is most happy about the balance he's getting in that effort, with Desean Murray leading the team with 8.3 per game but Anfernee McLemore (6.4), Chuma Okeke (6) and Heron (5.9) all contributing as well. Pearl has talked about not having a dominant rebounder but getting a balanced effort from his team on the glass, and so far, he's getting just that.

TIP-INS

1. The 6-7 McLemore is averaging 3.43 blocks this season to lead the Tigers and the SEC, with his 24 total blocks triple the next highest total on Auburn (Horace Spencer, 8).

2. Brown is just five 3-pointers away from moving into the top 10 in Auburn history and has hit a team-best 21 from beyond the arc this season.

3. Auburn has started 6-1 for the second straight season, the first time the program has accomplished that since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 campaigns.

PREDICTION: Auburn 87, Gardner-Webb 70