NASHVILLE, Tenn. >> Denver Jones scored 21 points as No. 1 Auburn held off Vanderbilt 80-68 on Tuesday night to avoid the Tigers’ first losing skid of the season.

Now Auburn (22-2, 10-1) goes into Saturday’s big showdown for the top of the Southeastern Conference standings, supremacy in the state of Alabama and the top of the AP Top 25. The Tigers came into Tuesday night tied with No. 2 Alabama in league play.

Chaney Johnson finished with 20 points for Auburn, and Johni Broome had 17.

The Tigers scored the first 15 points as they snapped back from their home loss to Florida last weekend. Vanderbilt rallied and finally hit its first 3 on the Commodores’ ninth try seconds before halftime to pull to 34-32.

Vanderbilt (17-7, 5-6) took its first lead with a 3 by Jason Edwards early in the second. The Commodores last led 49-48 on a putback by Chris Manon.

Auburn answered with a 12-2 run to squelch Vanderbilt’s hopes at its biggest win this season.

Edwards finished with 13 points for Vanderbilt. AJ Hoggard and Devin McGlockton each added 10. McGlockton also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

Alabama 103, Texas 80 >> Jarin Stevenson scored 22 points and No. 2 Alabama used a hot-shooting first half and a barrage of 3-pointers to cruise to a win over Texas.

The victory sets up Saturday’s showdown with rival No. 1 Auburn, with the winner claiming sole possession of first place in the Southeastern Conference.

Florida 81, Mississippi St. 68 >> Denzel Aberdeen had a game-high 20 points and Walter Clayton Jr. added 19 points to lead No. 3 Florida to a victory over No. 22 Mississippi State.

Thomas Haugh scored 16 points for Florida (21-3, 8-3 Southeastern Conference) and Will Richard and Rueben Chinyelu each added 10.Trailing by one at halftime, Florida exploded on a 17-0 run to open the second half and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Kentucky 75, Tennessee 64 >> Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh scored 13 points each and No. 15 Kentucky beat No. 5 Tennessee.

The Wildcats completed a regular season sweep of the Volunteers. Kentucky also beat Tennessee 78-73 on Jan. 28 in Knoxville, and is now 7-1 against teams ranked in the Top 15 this season.

Michigan 75, Purdue 73 >> Danny Wolf scored 15 points, including a pair of free throws in the final seconds, to lead No. 20 Michigan to its fifth straight win, over No. 7 Purdue.

Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 14 for the Wolverines (19-5, 11-2 Big Ten) while Tre Donaldson and Vladimir Goldin scored 12 apiece.

Texas A&M 69, Georgia 53 >> Solomon Washington scored 17 points and No. 8 Texas A&M used a huge second half run to cruise to a win over Georgia.

Iowa St. 77, UCF 65 >> Keshon Gilbert scored 15 points and Joshua Jefferson had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 10 Iowa State to a win over UCF.

Indiana 71, Michigan St. 67 >> Kam Jones had 19 points and moved into third place on Marquette’s career scoring list as the 18th-ranked Golden Eagles snapped a three-game skid by beating DePaul.

Jones increased his total to 1,870 points.