Alabama basketball hands Auburn first SEC loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama men’s basketball team is now 13-6 (5-1 SEC) after beating No. 8 Auburn (16-3, 5-1 SEC) 79-75 in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday night. It was a strong bounce back from the Crimson Tide after losing by 20 to a now top-5 ranked Tennessee squad on Saturday. The Tigers had been on an 11-game win steak going into the game.

How It Happened

Auburn got off to a fast start, scoring six-straight points to make it 6-0 and then countering Alabama’s first basket to take an 8-2 lead. From there, the Crimson Tide started to battle back and even held a sizable 14-point lead at halftime. The start of the second half was worse than the first though, as the Tigers got things going with a 9-0 run that eventually saw them take 58-57 lead with 9:16 left to play. From there, it was a constant back and forth with UA eventually hanging on to win by four.

Players of the Game

Where do we start? Obviously, Mark Sears continued to be Alabama’s top scoring option, putting up a team-high 22 points. That’s now back-to-back games with that point total. Not only that, but he added a game-high eight assists, which actually ties his career-high since arriving in Tuscaloosa. He also totaled five rebounds and three steals. No, he didn’t have his best stuff from the three-point line (1-of-5), but he did a nice job of getting to the basket.

Rylan Griffen had 17 points, which were the second-most for Alabama. The majority of those came from a fast start where he converted his first four three-point attempts. He did cool off from there though, hitting only one of his last six to make him 5-of-10 for the evening. The sophomore played well on the defensive end though, and finished +19 in plus-minus. He’s really started to hit his stride as a scorer, finishing with 15 or more points in five of the Crimson Tide’s last eight games.

We also have to give transfers Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. a lot of credit. Nelson had a couple of ugly three-point attempts, finishing 0-for-2 from beyond the arc, but he played with a ton of energy and effort on both ends of the court. As a result, he finished with his first double-double in an Alabama uniform with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Wrightsell was only one board shy of doing the same (14 points, nine rebounds) while also finishing 4-of-6 from three-point land.

Key Stats

Alabama’s free throws down the stretch were big. The team was 16-of-19 (84.2%) on the night, and that includes hitting the last six in the last 1:39 of play. Four of those came from Nelson with the other two coming from Sears. Auburn, on the other hand, made five of their last six, but the lone miss came from Chad Baker-Mazara that would’ve tied the game at 75 all. That made a huge impact on the game, so give UA credit for knocking down those free throws when it mattered the most.

What’s Next

On Saturday, Alabama will once again be taking on a set of Tigers inside Coleman Coliseum, but this time, it will be an LSU squad that’s currently 11-8 (3-3 SEC) on the year. After winning four straight and starting SEC play 2-0, they’ve now lost three of their last four games, including a 68-66 loss to Georgia on Wednesday night. Tipoff for that Saturday’s game is set for 7 p.m. CT, and it will air on ESPN. Stay tuned for more coverage.

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