TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — The road villains got a taste of their own medicine Saturday. No. 1 Auburn showed why it held onto the top ranking in the country, holding off any Alabama advances and defeating the Crimson Tide 94-85 inside Coleman Coliseum.
Alabama was unable to generate a big run typical of a Nate Oats side or muster the shooting required against an elite two-way Tigers team. Auburn kept up its steady play on both ends and while Alabama showed improvement in areas Oats was calling for, it couldn’t find the offensive production to match, leading to a road victory for the Tigers in the first-ever matchup between two SEC teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2.
Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s loss to Auburn.
For all of Alabama’s physicality on both ends and its ability to take care of the ball early in the game, the Tide was unable to truly capitalize on its effort. The red-hot shooting that ignited Alabama against Texas in its last game fell by the wayside Saturday and against a team like Auburn, ultimately sunk Alabama’s chances.
Auburn, which ranked No. 17 in adjusted defensive efficiency coming into the game lived up to its credentials Saturday. The Tigers stifled Alabama’s fast tempo, holding the Tide to 0.94 in the first half and just over 1.0 for the game.
Many of Alabama’s outside shots were contested, rushed or both. Alabama ran good actions offensively, but Auburn had a hand in a shooter’s face constantly and slowed Alabama’s tempo down, which forced the Tide to take pressured and difficult shots at the end of the shot clock, the antithesis of how Alabama has been able to thus far.
While Alabama got into the paint well, some untimely misses prevented the Tide from making the run it needed to take back the lead. Alabama shot just 12 of 28 on layup attempts, unable to get enough when driving through contact to offset its poor 3-point shooting.
The Tide finished going just 5 of 25 from 3-point range and shot 37.3% from the field, a lethal cold shooting patch that cost it against the best team in the country. Auburn’s defense did its part along with some untimely misses. Mark Sears finished with 18 points and was in attack mode early. He made good reads but came up empty on far too many trips, going 2 of 11 from deep.
Comparatively, Auburn hit its deep shots, connected on 40% of its 3s and showed off its depth of scoring while Alabama didn’t get the typical boost it usually does from its reserves. The Tigers bench outscored Alabama’s by 10 and had three players in double figures off the bench.
Saturday’s game felt more like a chess match at times. Alabama answered Oats’ call to limit turnovers and prevent Auburn from getting easy looks on the glass. The Tide had just seven giveaways and the Tigers only turned those into three points. Alabama also outrebounded Auburn 49-40.
When Alabama isn’t shooting the ball well, it’s been able to generate impact plays and get a boost either on the defensive end or offensive glass. But Auburn was able to suppress enough of those mistakes that normally ignite the Tide to stay ahead.
Auburn had just four turnovers. Alabama did about as much as it could, generating seven points off of the giveaways — two of which came on a 10-0 run where Alabama was first to miss and hit a rare few 3s.
But the Tide wasn’t able to make nearly enough high-impact defensive plays or get the Tigers uncomfortable in possession. Auburn also turned its measly seven offensive rebounds into eight second-chance points, making the most of any window Alabama gave it.
Though the Tide grabbed 14 O-boards, it only churned out nine second-chance points, not nearly enough for a team that won the paint battle overall. Alabama’s missed layups, a few Auburn timely blocks and a strong determined Tigers defense prevented Alabama from producing enough in the second-chance category. Alabama especially wasn’t able to fire off kickout 3s off its miss, which the Tide has hit with lethal efficiency in games where it gets a lot of offensive rebounds.
Auburn did a good job shutting off Alabama’s access to open 3s, which helped contribute to the Tide’s wayward shooting. Alabama was still good in possession against the Tigers’ defense avoiding turnovers and funneling the ball into the paint to find answers. Alabama finished the first half with 16 of its 33 points in the paint. Auburn at times appeared to give Alabama the look, focusing on defending the 3 and not wanting to be overly aggressive early defensively and get into foul trouble.
Tigers forward Jonhi Broome was always going to get his points, and he finished the game with 19 points and 14 rebounds. However, Alabama was able to defend Broome one-on-one well during stretches defensively. Mouhamed Dioubate played lively defense against Broome the first chance he got after subbing in.
Dioubate continued that outstanding effort offensively, becoming Alabama’s best answer at times and finishing with eight points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. After a lackluster start, Clifford Omoruyi’s effort in the lane also improved and he finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. Grant Nelson tied Omoruyi’s mark and had 12 points.
Alabama’s paint scoring became the main source of offense, which might come as a surprise given Auburn ranks as the No. 2 team in the country in block percentage. Labaron Philon had a few angry buckets on drives to the rim and had 10 points. Alabama ended up with 38 points in the paint. The Tigers managed six team blocks on Saturday.
However, Alabama’s consistently lackluster shooting couldn’t balance that paint production. Auburn meanwhile wasn’t cut off completely in the lane and scored 26 paint points, enough to help go on necessary runs and pull away. Broome was also still able to impact the game as a playmaker despite Omoruyi and Dioubate’s best efforts to defend him one-on-one. Auburn’s leading assist man had six Saturday, including five that lead to made Tigers 3s.
Alabama will go back on the road for its next contest. The Tide will face No. 21 Missouri at 8 p.m. Wednesday inside Mizzou Arena. The game will be televised on SEC Network. The Tigers beat/lost to Georgia on Saturday in their most recent game.
