Charles Barkley calls Auburn 'the stepchild' in rivalry with Alabama

Hall of Fame forward Charles Barkley is a legend at Auburn for his time at the school. Naturally, he was on hand to watch his Tigers take on rival Alabama on Wednesday night.

While he was there, Barkley made an appearance on the ESPN2 television broadcast. There, he made some interesting comments about the relationship between the two schools, referring to Auburn as “the stepchild” in the rivalry.

“It’s different for me because I was born in Alabama,” Charles Barkley said. “Unless you were born in Alabama, you really can’t get an appreciation for the animosity and the hatred for Alabama. But [Alabama] is a great school. I’ve got [nothing] but admiration, they just lost the greatest college football coach ever in Coach [Nick] Saban last month. Nothing but love and respect for him.”

Charles Barkley was born and raised in Leeds, Alabama, and garnered attention from college scouts later during his high school career. In the end, it would be Sonny Smith and Auburn that won Barkley’s services and he went on to have a great career there, being named the SEC Player of the Year in 1984. His No. 34 jersey has been retired by the program.

“But if you’re born in Alabama, you have to pick a team. Whether we play them in softball, volleyball, or whatever — we want to beat them,” Barkley continued. “I know I’m going to get in trouble saying this — but we’re like the stepchild. We’re never going to be Alabama but we want to beat them every time we play them. We’re kind of like Oklahoma State, UCLA, Kansas State.”

Auburn was the better team on the court Wednesday night, beating Alabama 99-81. With that, the Tigers moved into a three-way tie for first place in the SEC alongside Alabama and South Carolina. All three of those teams are 8-2.

On Saturday, Auburn will be on the road against Florida.

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

While Charles Barkley did admit that Auburn is a little brother during the game, he also made sure to take full advantage of the Tigers taking care of business against Alabama. In particular, he was critical of the Crimson Tide’s size.

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