Charles Barkley calls Alabama players 'little skinny dudes' amid blowout Auburn win

By the time Auburn great Charles Barkley joined the ESPN broadcast in the second half, the Tigers were in full control of Alabama during Wednesday’s SEC battle.

Auburn big man Johni Broome had been having his way down low to that point in the game having scored his first 20-point game since the last time Auburn played the Crimson Tide two weeks ago. Barkley, a forward during his playing career, was excited to see Bruce Pearl’s big man excel but made sure his commentary was to the expense of the Alabama defense with his charismatic expert analysis.

“Alabama got all these little skinny dudes out there. Coach Oats, Nate, does a fantastic job,” Barkley said during the ESPN broadcast. “When I was looking at the game early, I said, ‘Man, Broome should have a big night’ because Alabama, their guards are terrific, but they have no size inside.”

Barkley said that his NBA on TNT co-host, Shaquille O-Neal, would call that ‘barbeque chicken,’ meaning Broome has been able to eat all day long. And he has.

Meanwhile, Alabama played four guards in their starting lineup against the Tigers, giving the 6-foot-10 Broome free reign to dominate the paint. No bench player, or anyone other than a guard scored in double figures aside from Grant Nelson’s 16 points, but he fouled out in the second half. Big men Mohamed Wague, Nick Pringle, Sam Walters and Jarin Stevenson all played minutes against Auburn but combined for a total of six points off the bench.

Broome’s dominance allowed him to finish the game having done a little bit of everything. This was the third time in the last six games that Broome logged at least five blocks during the matchup, led the Tigers in rebounds and scored 24 points — ties for his third-highest mark of the season.

Of course, stat lines like that were commonplace for Barkley when he was playing for the Tigers. But the pair of Auburn bigs might have more similar lines than you may think. During Barkley’s 84-game career for the Tigers, he averaged 14.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per matchup. This season, Broome is averaging 15.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.

Auburn, who is tied for first place in the SEC with South Carolina, eventually emptied its bench and went on to defeat the Crimson Tide 99-81 and will move on to Saturday’s road trip against the Florida Gators playing arguably their best basketball of the season.