All’s clear. The Tigers can now loosen their lips.

It’s now safe and acceptable for No. 6 Auburn to talk about Sunday’s home showdown with No. 10 Tennessee.

The Tigers took care of business Thursday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum and withstood an uncharacteristic sharp-shooting first half from a rebuilding Alabama team. The 84-66 result may not have been as drama-free as expected, but the conclusion was more of the same for Auburn, which will take an unblemished 19-0 record into Sunday’s big-time matchup.

“You can’t help to think about it,” senior DeWanna Bonner said. “It’s Tennessee for God’s sake.”

Those thoughts may have been floating with a bit too much fervor in the Tigers’ heads throughout the first half Thursday, when Alabama hung tight and trailed by just 3 points going into halftime.

Auburn, just one of two undefeated teams left in the country, slacked a bit on defense and allowed the Tide a number of open looks from the perimeter. Alabama, which had made just five of its 56 3-point attempts in its past three games, hit five in the first 20 minutes alone.

“I know we worked hard to get them prepared for this game, but kids are kids,” said coach Nell Fortner, who refused to utter a word about Tennessee in the days leading up to Thursday’s game. “Maybe the score at the end of the first half got them focused.”

It apparently did, as the Tigers locked up the Tide and limited it to 12-of-31 shooting in the second half. It also helped that the Tigers couldn’t miss on the other end.

Auburn, which never trailed, knocked down 17 of its 23 shots in the second half, and permanently took a double-digit lead midway through the second half on its way to its 10th win in its last 11 tries against its in-state rival.

Sherell Hobbs, who was a non-factor with zero points in the first half, knocked down five of her six second-half shots, including a banked-in 3-pointer, to finish with 15 points. Bonner led all scorers with 24 points, 19 of which came in the first half.

“I don’t know how many times we’ve had the ball banked on us from a 3-point shot this year,” first-year Alabama coach Wendell Hudson said, “but I guess that is what we have to live with this year.“

Slow starts have highlighted Auburn’s best start to a season since the 1988-89 campaign. The Tigers trailed by 2 in their conference opener at South Carolina and struggled to a 4-point first-half lead at Arkansas on Sunday.

Perhaps fittingly, Tennessee struggled at Arkansas on Thursday night before pulling away with a 76-67 victory to maintain its 15-3 (4-1 SEC) record heading into Sunday.

“I don’t know what it is,” said point guard Whitney Boddie, who tallied her third consecutive double-double with 12 points and 12 assists. “People are just coming out and playing hard. Our defense needs to step it up.”

Boddie described Auburn’s first-half defense Thursday as mediocre, despite the fact that it forced 12 turnovers.

“When we play better teams, we’re not going to be able to do that, saying we can just outscore our opponents in the second half,” Boddie said.

Needless to say, there’s a much better team looming on the horizon.

Fortunately for the Tigers, it’s now OK to think and talk about it.

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