In a back-and-forth battle, No. 7 Alabama’s Mark Sears knocked down a mid-range floater at the overtime buzzer to upset No. 1 Auburn 93-91 and split the season series.
Below are stats to know from the top-ranked Tigers’ second straight loss.
Game Specific:
Alabama is ranked as the No. 1 scoring offense in D-I, but against Auburn shot a combined 12-for-48 from deep, 25%.
The Crimson Tide out rebounded the Tigers by eight, 41-33, and picked up one more offensive rebound (10-9).
52 of Alabama’s 93 points were scored in the paint – the third most points in the paint this season.
With 15 points in the first half, Grant Nelson collected 23 points, shooting 8-for-15 from the field and 4-for-6 from the charity stripe. It was Nelson’s fifth 20-plus point game of the season and second of SEC play.
30 of Auburn’s 42 first half points were scored by just Johni Broome and Tahaad Pettiford. Broome had 16 points while Pettiford had 14, knocking down four shots from deep in the first 20 minutes of play.
Aden Holloway, Mark Sears, Denver Jones and Miles Kelly all shot just a combined five shots from the field in the first half.
After a scoreless first half with no shots taken, Miles Kelly scored 13 second half points, shooting 3-for-7 from deep.
In the two matchups this season, Chad Baker-Mazara and Chris Youngblood have had four different reviews for technical fouls following a mixup between the two. The fourth review resulted in Chad Baker-Mazara’s ejection from the game.
Alabama took seven more shots from the charity stripe than Auburn, knocking down 16 of its 24 attempts. The Tigers knocked down 11-of-17 free throws, with Broome shooting 2-for-5 from the charity stripe.
Johni Broome:
The national player of the year candidate put together a 16 point first half performance and finished the night with 34 points – his 13th time scoring 20-or-more in a game – eight rebounds and three assists in 43 minutes.
Broome’s 34 points are the most in his Auburn career and marks just the fourth time the senior has recorded 30-or-points.
Series Specific:
Since Bruce Pearl’s first season at Auburn in 2014-15, the Tigers are now 11-11 in regular season games against Alabama.
In ranked matchups between Auburn and Alabama under Pearl and Nate Oats, Pearl is now 4-1.
Today’s game meant it was the first time Auburn and Alabama have met as ranked teams twice during the same season. Alabama leads such games 5-3 all time with Auburn winning three of the last four contests.
In a series where eight of the last 11 have been decided by nine points or less, Alabama has won nine of the last 17 matchups against Auburn.
The Tigers have a 34-30 record in games played in Auburn, AL including an 8-6 advantage at Neville Arena. Auburn is now 9-4 in their last 12 home games against the Crimson Tide.
Miscellaneous:
Bruce Pearl is now 14-15 in his head coaching career against Alabama and 5-7 in head-to-head matchups with Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
