AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Auburn (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP) wants to win the national championship this year. Georgia coach Jim Harrick -- who won the 1995 title with UCLA -- doesn't know if the Tigers can do it.

And that's after Auburn's 67-52 win over the Bulldogs on Saturday.

"I really hate to say anything," Harrick said. "But you need outstanding guard play to win the national championship."

Auburn thought it got that Saturday, as Scott Pohlman scored a team-high 14 points and Doc Robinson added nine in the Tigers' first defense of their Southeastern Conference title.

Still, Harrick thought the two were only "adequate."

"What you are asking me is are Pohlman and Robinson good enough to carry their team to the NCAA Championship," he said. "And I don't know."

Auburn coach Cliff Ellis disagreed, pointing out that Robinson -- an All-SEC selection last season -- had three assists and no turnovers in the win.

"To me, he's one of the more underrated point guards in the country," Ellis said. "What I look for is what he gives us -- he didn't turn the ball over. Assists and turnovers, that's the first thing I look at in a point guard."

Auburn also got 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds from center Mamadou N'diaye.

It was the 11th straight win for the Tigers (13-1, 1-0), and 24th consecutive home win.

Georgia (7-7, 0-2) has dropped three straight, but Harrick said he was pleased with the way the Bulldogs played.

"If that's the best team in the league, and the No. 4 team in the country, then I'm encouraged," he said.

Auburn led by 12 points early in the first half -- thanks to 11 Georgia turnovers in the first 10 minutes. But poor shooting kept the game close and the Tigers led just 27-24 at the break.

But Auburn turned up the intensity in the second half and quickly put the Bulldogs away.

Leading 33-30 at the 17:32 mark, the Tigers opened up the game with a 17-0 run. Daymeon Fishback started it with a 3-pointer off of a steal by Pohlman.

D.A. Layne missed his shot at the other end, then fouled Pohlman on a 3-point attempt. Pohlman hit all three of his foul shots and Chris Porter stole the inbound pass, but was fouled by Shon Coleman. Porter made both his shots to give Auburn eight points in 35 seconds and a 41-30 lead.

The Tigers kept running and gunning, forcing Layne to turn the ball over on Georgia's next possession, then throwing the ball the length of the court to a wide open N'diaye, who dunked it in.

After another basket by N'diaye, a 3-pointer by Pohlman and a jumper by Fishback, the Tigers had a 50-30 lead with 13:49 to play.

Harrick then called a timeout and benched Coleman and Layne, both starters, for about three minutes.

With a commanding lead and more than 12 minutes to play, Auburn began to have some fun.

The 7-foot N'diaye -- never known to have sweet scoring moves -- connected on a spinning jump shot. Then, after a Georgia miss, N'diaye dished off a pretty pass to Pohlman, who hit a running jumper that made it 54-32.

Georgia, which had 27 turnovers for the game, began showing its frustration with seven minutes to play. Coleman argued with the officials after he was called for a foul that sent N'diaye to the line and Harrick pulled Layne aside for some individual instructions.

"The saying is always 'they caused 27 turnovers' and that's probably true," Harrick said. "But you expect your team to handle the ball better."

Later, Coleman pumped his fist at the Auburn student section after grabbing a defensive rebound, earning a lengthy stare from Harrick. When he missed two free throws with 3:17 to play, Harrick replaced the junior college transfer with Nick Temen, another transfer who became eligible on Dec. 23.

"Coleman is highly emotional," Harrick said. "But really I thought he played pretty good today. Sometimes you get junior college players and they've never been in a crowd like this."

Layne finished with 12 points and eight turnovers. Coleman had six points and 11 rebounds. Anthony Evans led the Bulldogs with 17 points.

Fishback scored 12 for Auburn and Porter added 11 points and had four of the Tigers' 13 steals.