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Alabama hosted College GameDay last Saturday morning, and then hosted the No. 1 team in the nation. For a week leading up to the Iron Bowl of Basketball, anticipation was through the roof.
And then the game lived up to the hype. The top-ranked Auburn Tigers won 94-85, though Alabama made a spirited run in a second half that featured 104 combined points between the teams.
The TV audience for the midday game on ESPN was massive. Viewership averaged 2.8 million and peaked at 3.5 million, making it the most-watched game on ESPN all season. The network also revealed Wednesday that the Alabama-Auburn game was the highest-rated SEC game on the ESPN family of networks since the 2018-19 season.
Auburn led 42-33 after the first half. The Tigers never trailed and were led by 19 points from Wooden Award candidate Johni Broome. Broome also had 14 rebounds and 6 assists.
Alabama got 18 points from Mark Sears and a 12-point, 12-board double-double from Grant Nelson.
The Tigers (23-2, 11-1 SEC) and Crimson Tide (21-4, 10-2) meet once more during the regular season. Auburn hosts the rematch on March 8 inside Neville Arena, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
