Auburn versus Alabama notebook
Auburn answered the call in its biggest game all season.
Auburn defeated Alabama 99-81 on Wednesday night to create a four way tie atop the SEC between the two teams along with South Carolina and Tennessee.
Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome combined for 50 points on 15-of-29 shooting.
"I felt like going in this game was clearly the biggest regular season game we’ve had this year because if Alabama gets this one, they’re two games up on us and we’re probably not in the championship race and we’d like to still be in it," said coach Bruce Pearl. "And so we put ourselves in a position where at least we’re still in it."
MISMATCH INSIDE
It was fairly clear in the first matchup and crystal clear in the second: Alabama cannot handle Auburn's front court of Williams and Broome.
In addition to their scoring, the two combined for 13 rebounds while Broome had five blocks and Williams had two.
As a team, Auburn out rebounded the Tide 42-35 and had 12 blocks compared to Alabama's five.
"We had the advantage on the inside, obviously, with Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome," Pearl said. "We were able to handle any of their perimeter pressure and get the ball into certain situations where we could get it tight catches and they obviously just fouled us. We took advantage of that."
FREE THROW COMPETITION
Auburn and Alabama tipped off at 6:00 and ended at 8:30 meaning the game lasted two and a half hours. Why? Fouls. From both teams.
Alabama committed 33 personal fouls while Auburn had 28. This led to the Tigers shooting 50 free throws and the Tide shooting 35.
Converting from the line was the bulk of Auburn's second half defense as the Tigers were just 8-of-28 from the field in the final 20 minutes, but they still put up 44 points in the frame as they went 27-of-34 from the line.
It wasn't by mistake, either.
"We were a little handsy on the perimeter and their guards shot a ton of free throws, right," Pearl said. "And then we were pounding the ball inside and they were just climbing all over us—I mean, they were fouling us every time. So I don’t think the officials wanted to call it like that, but I think both teams played hard, played physically."
HAD TO HAVE IT
Auburn's players talked about and so did Pearl: Auburn had to win this game.
Heading into the night, Alabama was alone at the top of the SEC with just one conference loss while Auburn had two.
Having already lost in Tuscaloosa, Auburn couldn't afford to get swept by Alabama and still have a chance to win the SEC.
Simply put, Auburn took care of business.
"That was a must win," Broome said. "They were first in the SEC, and our goal is to win the SEC. We had to get a separator. We had to get one, because a lot of people in the league ain’t going to beat Alabama. They’re a very good team. That was big that we were able to split with them, but we’ve got to just keep it going.”
DEFENSE DID... ENOUGH
Alabama has one of the best offenses in the country, so the Tide are going to score on everyone they play.
That said, Auburn did almost as well as it could have hoped for.
81 points is a good amount, but it was done on a true shooting percentage of 54 percent, which is Alabama's sixth lowest mark of the year.
The Tigers forced 15 Alabama turnovers with 13 of them coming off of Auburn steals.
Per Synergy, Alabama only averaged 0.890 points per possession which is well below its season average of 1.051.
"I thought we did a better job keeping bodies on bodies," Pearl said. "Not getting overwhelmed on the offensive glass, not getting beat to as many 50-50 balls, and we did a better job of not turning the ball over — which, they had 18 points off our turnovers in Tuscaloosa, so, I think all those things led to the fact that we held them to only nine threes."
DEPTH
Auburn's depth showed itself again.
The Tigers had nine players play at least 13 minutes and had four different players score at least 13 points.
In addition to the scoring, Auburn was getting contributions from other guys in different ways. K.D. Johnson and Chris Moore had three steals each; Moore also had four offensive rebounds and three assists; Dylan Cardwell had three blocks.
It was an all around effort for Auburn to pull out a statement win.
"Mark Sears is a great player," Broome said. "He played 36 minutes tonight. The most person was 31 on our team, and that’s unusual. Most people play 25 minutes. When you have one person playing 25, one person playing 15, you’re fresh."