What Went Right Last Time Alabama Basketball Played Auburn?
It's time for Alabama and Auburn to meet again on the hardwood, and as it is every time these two teams meet, there is a ton on the line.
Alabama, ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll, comes into the game with an 8-1 record through the first half of SEC play, and a 1-game lead over every team in the rest of the SEC standings. Auburn, ranked No. 12, has a 7-2 record, with the chance to even things at the top of the standings as well as even the season series at one game apiece.
Just two weeks ago, Auburn came into Coleman Coliseum and lost by a final score of 79-75. It was, and still is the biggest win on Alabama's NCAA Tournament resume, but even so, the Crimson Tide didn't play a perfect game.
There are plenty of things Alabama would like to improve on in the rematch. For starters, Auburn center Johni Broome had his way with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Secondly, Alabama had 14 turnovers as a team, three more than Auburn did in the game.
Alabama got outscored by 10 points in the second half after building its 14-point halftime lead, and it's going to be extremely difficult to get it done in Neville Arena getting outscored by 10 points in either half of tonight's game.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during Tuesday's press conference. "They turn people over and get out and get easy buckets, we’ve got to do a better job on Broome, he had way to easy of a time with our bigs inside last game so we’ve got to do a better job with him."
So what did Alabama do right in the first meeting, that led to the 14-point cushion it was able to hold onto despite the notably worse second half.
It all started with ball pressure against Auburn's guards.
“I thought we came out with some intensity and turned them over in the first half. We forced nine turnovers in the first half. In the second half they took care of the ball pretty well, so I’m sure their point of emphasis will be that they can’t turn it over. Our pressure got to them a little bit," Oats said.
Throughout the first half Alabama's guards did everything in their power to make everything Auburn's guards did extremely uncomfortable.
Broome got his, but Auburn's guards struggled to score. Starting point guard Aden Holloway scored just two points and didn't make a shot from the field, while Alabama forced two turnovers each from KD Johnson and Denver Jones.
In the above clip, Alabama's Mark Sears and Latrell Wrightsell hound the ball for nearly 15 straight seconds of defense, chasing their men over and through screens while applying maximum pressure. On that play, Holloway ultimately made the right read with the pick-and-roll, but the constant pressure continued to wear on him, as shown in the next clip.
Sears again hounds the ball, jumps through lazily set screens and uses his quick hands to poke out a steal, which he takes for a layup.
The entire first half against Auburn was Alabama's best display of on-ball defense it's put on this whole season, and it's going to need to replicate that intensity to be able to go on the road and compete.
"We did a pretty good job with some of their guards, but we’ve got to try to realize that they’re going to improve and we’re need to do an even better job," Oats said.
The second major positive for Alabama from its first meeting against Auburn was Rylan Griffen, who came off the bench for the first and only time this year.
Griffen has had success against Auburn in his career, scoring 16 points as a freshman in the Jungle a season ago, and he started out as hot as any player on the floor in the last meeting.
Coming off the bench, Griffen started the game 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, and completely erased the early 16-8 lead the Tigers had built up in the opening minutes of the game. Two of those threes can be seen below:
Griffen gets freed for both looks above from Auburn either switching softly or going under screens. Griffen has deep range, so taking looks that are a few feet back from the arc are still good shots for him.
But it may not be Griffen who gets free on Wednesday night, it's likely that Auburn is much more keyed on him after what happened two weeks ago. It may be Sears, it may be Wrightsell, it could even be Sam Walters.
The good news for Alabama is the sheer number of shooters it has at its disposal. The Crimson Tide has six rotation players currently shooting at least 34 percent from distance, it just needs one or two of them to show up in Neville to keep the team from getting into a deep hole.
Winning inside Neville Arena will be difficult, probably more so than any game Alabama has played this season, but it's not impossible. A fast start will be essential, as falling behind in that building early is a death sentence for most teams.
If the Crimson Tide can start the game hot, we're going to be in for another classic matchup in the latest Iron Bowl of Basketball.
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