By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- The SEC Tournament pairings are set and Arkansas will open play on Thursday night at 6 p.m. against Auburn. 

The two met on Saturday, Jan. 7, and the Tigers took a 72-59 victory at home. Arkansas (19-12, 8-10) enters the tournament owning a three-game losing streak. Despite the losing skid at end of the season Arkansas has some good metrics thanks to a difficult schedule and ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Hogs a nine-seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman was asked if he approaches the SEC Tournament where the Hogs may be fighting for their NCAA Tournament life?

"Well I think every team should go into the SEC Tournament fighting for their season because it is a second season," Musselman said. "The regular season is now over and I thought we did an incredible job, when you think about our win-loss record and you think about the metrics and you think about the non-conference and you think about the success of the teams that we did beat in non-conference play, yes, we feel confident that we’re an NCAA Tournament team. So yes, we feel like through the regular-season basketball, we’ve proven that we’re an NCAA Tournament team."

Arkansas lost to Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky (at home) to end the season.

"Yeah, we’ve got to move on," Musselman said. "Learn from our mistakes and try to get ready for SEC play."

Auburn (20-11, 10-8) enters as the No. 7 seed while the Hogs are No. 10. Auburn beat Tennessee 79-70 on Saturday. The winner of the Hogs, Auburn will play No. 2 Texas A&M on Friday at 6 p.m.

Click here for the tournament bracket.