No. 2/2 Alabama Faces Auburn for Final Home Game at Coleman Coliseum
2/28/2023 6:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide looks to clinch the SEC regular season championship Wednesday night
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 2/2 Alabama men's basketball team has a chance to clinch the 2023 Southeastern Conference regular season title outright Wednesday night, as the Tide hosts Auburn inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide is looking to clinch its second SEC regular season championship in the last three seasons.
The Tide enters Wednesday's game with a perfect 14-0 record at Coleman Coliseum, as UA looks for its second win over Auburn this season.
The Alabama-Auburn matchup features four of the top-20 scorers in the conference led by Alabama's Brandon Miller scoring an SEC-best 20.6 ppg in SEC games followed by Auburn's Johni Broome (No. 8, 15.3 ppg), Wendell Green Jr. (No. 10, 14.9 ppg) and Alabama's Mark Sears (No. 19, 13.3 ppg).
Should Alabama pull out the win, it would be the Tide's first undefeated home season since 2010-11 (19-0).
The Broadcast
Wednesday's game is set for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff and will be aired on ESPN2 with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call, while Tom Stipe (engineer) is turning the dials. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
Notes You Need To Know
- Alabama has the chance to end the regular season 15-0 at home for the third time in program history and first since the 2010-11 season
- Alabama has a chance to win its second SEC regular season championship in the last three years for the first time since winning three straight from 1974-76
- Alabama is 14-13 against AP Top 25 teams during Nate Oats' tenure
- The Crimson Tide is the first SEC team to score 100 points versus three conference opponents since the 1997-98 Arkansas teamÂ
- Alabama has won 11 SEC games by double digits, tying the program record set by the 1955-56 team
- Alabama is ranked No. 2 in the AP Top-25 Poll, the highest ranking in program history this late into the season
- The Crimson Tide is one of two schools (Houston) to rank in the top 17 in both defense adjusted efficiency (No. 5) and in offense adjusted efficiency (No. 17) according to KenPom
- Alabama's newcomers have scored 1,898 of UA's 2,417 points (78.5%) this season led by Brandon Miller's 19.7 ppg Â
- Miller is 61 points away from tying Collin Sexton's record for most points (632 points) scored by a freshman in a single season in UA history
- Miller is the only player in Division I to score 570 points, record 230 rebounds and make 85 three-pointers this season
- Alabama's freshmen have scored 52.1% (1,259 points) of the Tide's points this season
- For the second time in the last three seasons, Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats was named to the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Coach of the Year Watch List (Finished in the top 4 in 2021)
About AuburnÂ
- In three games against the Crimson Tide, Wendell Green Jr. has averaged 23 points per game.
- Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl (15th, .633) ranks among the Top 15 NCAA Division I active coaches with most career wins - one of three coaches in the SEC to top the list next to Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari (4th, 788) and Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes (6th, 775).
- Under Pearl, the Tigers have turned in 20-win seasons in four of the last five years. One more win would make it five out of the last six and the 14th time in school history.
- In conference play, Johni Broome is averaging a team-leading 15.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per contest for the Tigers. He also has collected 21 assists and 13 steals.
- In SEC games, Auburn has four players averaging double figures led by Broome's 15.5 points along with Wendell Green Jr. (15.3 ppg), Jaylin Williams (11.2 ppg) and Allen Flanigan (10.8 ppg)
- Auburn is 76-221 all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The Tigers last beat a team ranked inside of the Top 5 during their 2019 NCAA Final Four Run – No. 7 Kentucky (77-71) in overtime in the Elite Eight on March 31, 2019.
- Auburn ranks No. 7 nationally and tops in the SEC in blocks per game (5.6) behind its two-headed monster: Johni Broome (9th, 2.5 bpg) and Dylan Cardwell (65th, 1.5 bpg).
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