Observations: Auburn 81, South Carolina 66

Bruce Pearl's Tigers have now won 10 in a row — and back-to-back SEC games by 15 points — after the latest Wendell Green Jr. showcase.

PG Wendell Green Jr. (Courtesy of South Carolina Athletics)

During the first week of January 1999, Bruce Pearl was at Southern Indiana. Wes Flanigan, just two years removed from his playing days, hadn’t started coaching. Steven Pearl was 11 years old. Of the players on Auburn’s current roster, only Zep Jasper was alive.

Why is that date important? Because, until Tuesday night, that was the last time Auburn basketball had beaten its first two SEC opponents by 15 or more points.

That 1998-99 team, led by the likes of Chris Porter, Doc Robinson, Mamadou N’Diaye and Daymeon Fishback — who was on the call for the SEC Network on Tuesday night — would go on to win the SEC regular-season title and become a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Now, 23 years later, Auburn is looking like a team that could replicate those feats.

Pearl’s Tigers won their 10th game in a row Tuesday night, an 81-66 victory over a South Carolina team that was once a perennial thorn in their side.

And, even though they were…