Alabama
13-6,5-1SEC
#8 Auburn
16-3,5-1SEC
Balanced Offense, Stellar Defense Leads Alabama to a 79-75 Upset Win over No. 8/6 Auburn
1/24/2024 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide move into a first-place tie in league play after defeating the lone remaining undefeated team
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team jumped out to a big first half lead and withstood a second-half run to outlast No. 8/6 Auburn 79-75 Wednesday night in front of a sold out and raucous Coleman Coliseum crowd.
The Crimson Tide (13-6, 5-1 SEC) ended the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 44-30 lead at intermission, However, the Tigers responded in the second half on a 9-0 run and would eventually take the lead before Alabama made clutch free throws and defensive stops down the stretch to pull out the four-point win.
Mark Sears led a balanced offensive attack with 22 points, five rebounds and a season-high eight assists. Grant Nelson picked up the team's second double-double - and his first of the season - with 14 points and 11 boards on the night, while Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 14 points and nine boards. Rylan Griffen scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half and finished the contest with a career-best five three-pointers in the victory.
The Tigers (16-3, 5-1 SEC) were led by Johni Broome with a game-high 25 points and 14 rebounds.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"That's a good team. We didn't come out ready to play. They punched us in the mouth out of the gate. We've got to figure our starts (to games) out. We have not had good starts here for a long time. Rylan was really good off the bench tonight; we needed a big burst. He came in and gave us a big punch which was exactly what we wanted. I thought Latrell (Wrightsell) was pretty good as a starter. We have been trying to get some guys that are able to take care of ball, so we have a couple more ball handlers out there. We still had too many turnovers, but I thought we showed some toughness that we lacked in the loss to Tennessee. We showed some fight when we got down at the start. I thought we showed some grit and fought through some adversity. Then we didn't have a good start to the second half again, so we got some guys off the bench and turned it around again in the second half. But they didn't go away, that is a tough team that's going to compete. They are still in first place in our league. Big win and we needed it, but we got to get better at a lot of things here.
TEAM STATS
- With Wednesday's win, Alabama moves into a first-place tie with Auburn (5-1) and Tennessee (4-1) in the league standings
- Alabama snapped Auburn's 11-game win streak
- Head coach Nate Oats collected his 16th win over an AP Top-25 team (16-20) and his sixth win over a top-10 opponent (6-9)
- It's the fourth time in the last five meeting between the two teams that the contest was decided by single digits
- This is Alabama's third consecutive win, first time since 2015 in the Alabama-Auburn matchup a team has collected three consecutive wins
- Mark Sears collects a season-high with eight assists and recorded his 10th game of 20 or more points
- Rylan Griffen (5) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (4) combined for nine three-pointers
- Alabama shot 38 percent (26-68) from the floor, 37 percent (11-30) from range and 84 percent (16-19) from the charity stripe
- In comparison, Auburn shot 42 percent (28-67) from the field, 20 percent (5-25) from range and 78 percent (14-18) from the line
FIRST HALF
- Early offensive struggles allowed Auburn to take an eight-point lead before Rylan Griffen, off the bench, spearheaded a 9-0 run with a pair of threes, giving the Tide its first lead of the game at the 13-minute mark
- With four minutes left to play in the first half, UA led by four points, shortly thereafter, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. cashed in on a pair of threes, extending the lead to 14 headed into the locker rooms
- UA finished the half with eight made first half three-pointers
- Griffen led Alabama at the break with 14 points, draining four threes, and Mark Sears close behind with 10 points and seven assists. Wrightsell Jr. added an additional three three-pointers to UA's first half total
SECOND HALF
- Auburn began the second half on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to five, 44-39
- With UA leading 54-48, AU went on a 10-3 to take the lead, 58-57
- The teams had two ties and three lead changes over the next three minutes of play
- UA converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final three minutes to put the game out of reach
- Grant Nelson scored six of the last eight points for the Tide
- Mark Sears scored 12 of his 22 points and Grant Nelson also scored 12 of his 14 points in the latter half of Wednesday's contest
UP NEXT
- Alabama returns to action Saturday when it welcomes the LSU Tigers to Coleman Coliseum
- The game is slated for a 7 p.m. CT tipoff and will air live on ESPN
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