Live Blog: Updates from Alabama Basketball Game at Auburn

AUBURN, Ala.–– BamaCentral has made it to Neville Arena in Auburn where No. 7 Alabama (23-7, 12-5 SEC) looks to close out the regular season with an upset win of No. 1 Auburn (27-3, 15-2 SEC.)

The two teams met in Tuscaloosa back on Feb. 15 with the Tigers winning, 94-85. Auburn has already locked up the regular season crown, and Alabama has already secured a double-bye in the SEC Tournament regardless of the results of Saturday's game. This rivalry game is about pride and momentum,

Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on ESPN.

FOLLOW ALONG FOR UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE GAME ON THE LIVE BLOG ON BAMACENTRAL.

Live Blog

(latest updates at the top)

Overtime

ALABAMA WINS ON A MARK SEARS BUZZER BEATER. FINAL SCORE: ALABAMA 93, AUBURN 91.

Neville Arena is stunned.

0:15- Auburn gets an offensive rebound, and Broome makes them pay with his second 3-pointer of overtime. It ties the game at 91-91. Timeout Alabama

30.8- Philon makes two FTs, 91-88 Alabama

0:33- Timeout Auburn after Pettiford cuts it to one, 89-88 Alabama

Sears makes both free throws to put Alabama up 89-86 with 40 seconds left.

0:41- Auburn is called for a foul to send Sears to the free throw line with Alabama leading 87-86

1:59- Auburn calls timeout with Alabama leading 85-83

2:07- Philon steals and scores, 85-83 Alabama

2:41- Omoruyi has all four points for Alabama in overtime as his dunk ties it at 83-83

Second Half

END OF REGULATION: Alabama 79, Auburn 79

Neither team can make a shot on its final possession, and this game is headed to overtime.

0:42- Nate Oats calls a timeout with 14 seconds left on the shot clock for Alabama in a tie game

0:59- Broome ties it at 79-79

2:00- Alabama retakes the lead on a layup from Nelson, 79-77

2:25- Youngblood fouls Pettiford attempting a 3 on the first play out of the timeout. He only makes one of them, but it ties the game at 77-77

2:31- Alabama 77, Auburn 76- Auburn calls timeout after Broome picks up the loose ball on the Alabama turnover

Oats gets down in stance to fire up his defense after Alabama takes the lead on a Nelson 3-pointer, 77-76.

3:55- Philon temporarily silences the crowd with a 3-pointer to tie it at 74-74

Auburn takes the lead at 72-71 on free throws from Jones, and Alabama gets a shotclock violation on its next offensive possesion, and the noise level is ratcheting up in here.

7:45- Alabama 67, Auburn 64- Labaron Philon's floater ended a 7-0 Auburn run after the Tigers had cut it to one point. Alabama has had a few costly turnovers over the last few minutes that have allowed the Tigers to get back into the game.

float game. pic.twitter.com/VsVPimjv8e
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 8, 2025

9:05- Nate Oats calls timeout after a quick 5-0 run for Auburn cuts the Alabama lead down to 65-62. Crowd at Neville is rocking and has stayed on its feet for the entire timeout.

9:46- Omoruyi gets his fourth foul for Alabama. He's been having a great second half. Broome goes 1-2 at the free throw line to cut the Alabama lead to 65-58

Alabama is on a 15-2 run over the last four minutes of game time, and leads 65-57 with under 10 minutes to go

10:41- Johnson picks up his fourth foul for Auburn. Dioubate goes 1-2 at the line for Alabama. The Tide leads 63-57 but has missed five free throws this half

After review, Chad Baker-Mazara is called for a Flagrant 2 and will be ejected. Alabama gets two free throws and the ball with a 62-57 lead. Youngblood misses both free throws.

10:52- Play is under review for a shot above the head to Youngblood by Baker-Mazara

11:30- Holloway hits a 3 to push Alabama's lead back to four at 61-57

11:45- Alabama 58, Auburn 57- There have already been six lead changes in the first eight minutes of the second half. Buckle up, folks.

Youngblood has returned from the locker room to the Alabama bench with a big bandage on the side of his face.

Chris Youngblood is back on the bench with a bandage by his left eye. ESPN’s Molly McGrath reported that he was “being treated for an eye laceration and will return” pic.twitter.com/p5aHGT5DEc
— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) March 8, 2025

13:14- Omoruyi picks up his third foul for Alabama after back-to-back massive dunks. Auburn leads 55-54

Auburn takes its largest lead at 55-50.

15:41- Kelly hits another one coming out of the timeout to give Auburn the 53-50 lead.

15:47- Alabama 50, Auburn 50- We've got a tie game at the first media timeout of the second half. Miles Kelly has hit a couple big shots for Auburn coming out of the break.

Youngblood is now running to the locker room with a towel over his left eye.

Youngblood was able to get up and is now sitting on the end of the bench getting checked out by Holter.

Chris Youngblood is down on the floor for Alabama after taking an apparent shot to the face from Baker-Mazara. He is being attended to by Alabama trainer Clarke Holter, and head coach Nate Oats also just walked over to check on him.

18:15- Cardwell picks up his third foul.

18:49- Auburn takes the lead on a 3 from Miles Kelly, 47-45 Auburn. First lead since it was 2-0

It will be Auburn's ball to start the second half.

HALFTIME: Alabama 45, Auburn 42

Alabama was the better team in the first half, but will it be able to keep it up for a full 40 minutes in front of one of the toughest environments in college basketball.
Auburn took the first lead of the game on the second possession, and then never led after that.
Broome leads all scorers with 16 points, but Nelson isn't far behind with 15 for Alabama. This is the most points Nelson's scored in a game since Feb. 8 at Texas.
That was one of the best halves of the season for freshman Aiden Sherrell. He had six points and seven rebounds, including two huge offensive rebounds that led to four second-chance points.
Alabama had 11 total second-chance points in the first half.
Mark Sears, Alabama's leading scorer, only attempted two shots in the first half and made the lone 3-pointer he attempted.
Tahaad Pettiford was the only Tiger to make a 3 in the first half, but he made four of them.
Five Auburn players have two fouls: Broome, Baker-Mazara, Johnson, Kelly and Cardwell.
Alabama was able to keep the crowd at bay for the majority of the half. The start of this second half will be important.

First Half

Alabama had the chance to hold for the final shot, but Sears just dribbled it around and let the shot clock expire without getting a shot off. Oats and Sherrell were attempting to call timeout, but it was not granted by the officials.

Bruce Pearl is starting to work the officials hard after they missed an out of bounds call off of Alabama.

Auburn cuts the deficit to two points, and then Sherrell gets another offensive rebound and putback to extend the Alabama lead back to 44-40.

Oats was having a pretty long conversation with an official during the break. Philon makes both FTs, 41-35 Alabama

3:57- Alabama 39, Auburn 35- Philon will be at the free throw line for Alabama coming out of the commerical break for a one-and-one

4:57- Alabama 37, Auburn 32- Alabama has been able to weather any storms so far, but the Tide keeps leaving Tahaad Pettiford open for Auburn. He has 14 points and is 4-of-5 from the 3-point line. Nelson leads Alabama with 14 points.

This game is going at a fast and furious pace. It took until 4:57 to get to the under-8 media timeout.

Unselfish play by Labaron Philon to find an open Youngblood in the corner, who drains the 3-pointer to extend Alabama's lead to 34-26

7:24- Nelson silences the crowd with a 3 to make it 31-24 Alabama

Auburn crowd wants Grant Nelson to get a technical for doing the Crimson Crane, which Auburn players did to celebrate winning in Coleman last month. Instead after review, it is a confirmed that it's an and-1 foul on Auburn's Dylan Cardwell.

THE POWER OF THE STACHE 👨🏻 pic.twitter.com/GB4HBWf8E9
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 8, 2025

9:56- Holloway scores his first basket of the game in his return to Neville to make it 25-19 Alabama

11:46- Alabama 20, Auburn 15- Alabama still has the lead at the second media timeout, but the Auburn crowd is starting to heat up after Pettiford just hit that 3 for the Tigers. Baker-Mazara has two fouls for Auburn, and Omoruyi has two for the Tide.

Auburn crowd chanting "shut up Nate" after Oats has some words with the officials about the charge call on Omoruyi.

Oats is LOVING Alabama's effort on the boards so far.

14:30- Mark Sears hits the first 3 of the game for either team, 15-8 Alabama

Alabama is definitely showing a high level of physicalness so far after getting out-manned on the boards Wednesday in the loss against Florida.

Aden Holloway checks in for Alabama after the media timeout, drawing boos from the Auburn crowd.

15:57- Alabama 10, Auburn 4- Strong start for the Crimson Tide, giving a lot of effort on both ends of the floor. Mark Sears has yet to attempt a shot for Alabama

Things are definitely already getting a little bit chippy in here Neville Arena ahead of the first media timeout.

16:40- Really strong effort from Omoruyi to draw an offensive rebound among three Auburn players. He gets the board, puts it back up and is fouled. Alabama extends its lead to 10-4

Big time rebound from Cliff. pic.twitter.com/7L4jd5otgp
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 8, 2025

17:11- After Baker-Mazara goes down for a few seconds, the play is reviewed. The refs rule incidental contact and no foul as Alabama leads 7-4

18:02- Alabama forward Grant Nelson draws an and-1 foul on Johni Broome, and Alabama takes its first lead at 5-2

and one from number four. pic.twitter.com/Br0AXqZwDb
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 8, 2025

20:00- Alabama wins the opening tip, and this game is underway.

Starting lineups:

Pregame

Auburn legend Charles Barkley narrates the final pregame video before tip.

Bruce Pearl and Nate Oats have shaken hands at midcourt. Oats is sporting the gray houndstooth coat for today's game.

Lights off and PA playing "Welcome to the Jungle" before Auburn takes the floor.

Auburn fans chant "one more year" for Baker-Mazara, who technically has one year of eligibility remaining.

Auburn is doing their "Senior Day" ceremony prior to today's game. Auburn is recognizing six senior players: JP Pegues, Ja'Heim Hudson, Miles Kelly, Chaney Johnson, Chad Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones.

Today's officials: Doug Shows, Terry Oglesby, Byron Jarrett

Both teams have taken the court for final warmups. Chris Youngblood and Mark Sears are meeting with Johni Broome and the officials at midcourt.

I just took a stroll around almost the entire concourse and only saw one fan in Alabama gear. This game was one of the toughest tickets in college basketball this season.

Freshman forward Derrion Reid, who has been ruled out for this game, is participating in warmups for the Crimson Tide. He will not play today, but this is a good sign for Alabama heading into the postseason.

Former Auburn player and current Alabama guard Aden Holloway was not given a warm welcome from the Auburn student section. He got an extended amount of boos and extra attention with boos on every warmup shot made and cheers for every shot missed. Holloway was one of the first players out for warmups for Alabama.

Auburn student section is booing every shot Aden Holloway makes in warmups and cheering every time he misses pic.twitter.com/lduFpuYLE0
— Katie Windham (@katiewindham_) March 8, 2025

Auburn put white SEC Championship rally towels in every seat inside Neville Arena.

The Auburn student section was packed as soon as the doors opened, and when the gates opened for general fans 1.5 hours before tip, the standing room only seats were instantly filled.