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Auburn meets the moment in the biggest regular-season game in SEC history, proves its title-favorite mettle
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Dear college basketball universe:
Give me at least 2 more Iron Bowls of Basketball just like the one we witnessed Saturday, please, because the biggest regular season game in SEC history delivered.
For nearly 30 minutes, the game was controlled by the team with the best résumé in college basketball history.
Auburn executed flawless flex offense, dazzled with its shotmaking, and played magnificent perimeter defense to build a 14-point lead at 59-45. But if you thought Alabama was going down with a whimper, you haven’t learned much about the character and fight of this Crimson Tide program under Nate Oats.
Mark Sears made 2 huge threes to help Alabama get off the mat, with the Tide pouring in 23 of the game’s next 32 points to tie the game at 68 with just over 7 minutes remaining. What’s more, Johni Broome appeared to aggravate an ankle sprain he suffered in January just as the Crimson Tide climbed level.
The Tide would tie Auburn twice, in fact, at 65 and 68 apiece. On each occasion, Auburn made a massive shot, one from freshman Tahaad Pettiford and the other from Chad Baker-Mazara, who is a walking college basketball antonym for “freshman.” In a game filled with flashy freshmen and savvy veteran stars, the contrast felt perfect.
These programs have become who they are — 2 of the premier programs in what is now the nation’s best basketball league — on the backs of big-time freshman recruits like Brandon Miller and Jabari Smith and savvy portal find veterans like Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Chad Baker-Mazara and Johni Broome.
Alabama would never tie the game again.
Auburn’s defense, and a brilliant Broome, bullied their way to a 94-85 victory.
Auburn’s star finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 blocks, scoring inside and finding teammates for easy looks and baskets as the Tigers built their big lead. Then, when Alabama pushed, Broome played through pain, protecting the paint while Auburn’s tenacious perimeter defenders did the rest.
Alabama shot 5-26 from deep, well under its season average of 34.4%, and the Tide assisted one another on just 8 of their 26 makes, well below their season assist rate of 55.5%.
Credit Bruce Pearl, who outcoached Oats, his outstanding counterpart.
Pearl had his guards and wings, led by Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones, hound the Alabama guards with ball pressure and aggressively deny ball reversals. This left driving lanes open, but Pearl trusted his big men to protect the paint and help. Oats, whose rim 2s and 3-point heavy offense has turned Alabama into a power, never fully adjusted. Instead, the Crimson Tide settled for too many contested 3s, passing up opportunities to attack the rim and force Auburn into tough defensive rotations. If Alabama had simply missed shots, Pearl would deserve less credit. But per Shot Quality, Alabama took just 11 “quality 3s” of its 26. It made 4 of those. On “contested triples”, the Tide went just 1-15.
Credit Denver Jones, too.
An unheralded guard when he transferred to Auburn from FIU, Jones harangued and harassed Sears, a Wooden Award finalist, throughout, chasing him through and over ball screens, contesting most of his triples, and staying in front of Sears when he headed to the paint, where he’s as sleek and hard to guard as any player in America. Sears finished with 18 points, but made just 4 of his 17 shots and dished out just 2 assists while committing 2 turnovers. After one turnover, early in the second half, a visibly frustrated Sears pounded the ball into the court, shrugging his shoulders and staring skyward.
Jones did it on both ends.
After posting a zero in a loss to then No. 6 Florida a week ago, Jones scored 16 points on a tidy 5-9 from the field, including 3-5 from deep. Jones finished a game-best plus-18 in box-plus minus, making him the most impactful player on the floor.
Players like Jones, who embrace their role without fanfare, are a huge reason Auburn has 14 Quad 1 wins, a record for any team through February and 6 more than the second-closest team in America. Auburn can guard, it has the nation’s most efficient offense, and they have a future Hall-of-Famer as a head coach who lets his players play fearless and free.
They are, put plainly, as good as advertised.
Auburn led wire-to-wire, but the Tigers were far from perfect.
Ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the First Round a season ago in part due to a silly flagrant foul by Chad Baker-Mazara, the Auburn senior was back at it Saturday, taking a pointless swipe at Alabama guard Chris Youngblood with the Tigers clinging to a 7-point lead with 2:30 remaining in the game. The play gave Alabama free throws and the ball, and fouled the vital Baker-Mazara out.
On Saturday, Alabama couldn’t capitalize, thanks to relentless defense by Broome, who blocked an Alabama shot on the ensuing “take the ball” possession.
But a team as good as Alabama may not let that type of opportunity slip away again.
Baker-Mazara’s motor and defense make him indispensable. His tendency to lose his judgment? That makes him concerning.
On Saturday, it didn’t matter.
Auburn came to Tuscaloosa with a target on its back, and met the season’s biggest moment with a grin. The Tigers are the national championship favorites, and proved it yet again on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum.
Alabama, a Final Four team a season ago that guards better than last year’s group, will get its opportunity for revenge when it visits Neville on March 8. As good as the Tide are, there could be other games down the road, too.
We should all hope so.
Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
