ESPN Reacts to Auburn's Win Over Alabama: Gap Continues to Grow

For the first time in SEC history, two teams from the conference met as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country. It could be said even that didn't do the game justice as the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide were co-No. 1 teams in the AP and Coaches' Poll respectively.

The nation's eyes were on SEC basketball, and they weren't in Lexington, Ky. or Gainesville, Fla. or even Fayetteville, Ark., home to the only SEC schools who have won an NCAA Tournament.

They were in Tuscaloosa, Ala. watching a pair of in-state teams battle it out for national supremacy. College Gameday was in attendance to witness Auburn beat Alabama 94-85 in a tightly contested game in which the Tigers never trailed.

There were a few raised eyebrows when Auburn held onto the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll last week after losing to Florida, but that was explained away by their body of work rather than recency bias.

However, the Tigers left no doubt what the polls will say this week after their win in Tuscaloosa, and ESPN took notice.

"The gap between Auburn and everyone else for the overall 1-seed is only growing," wrote college basketball insider Jeff Borzello on ESPN. "The Tigers entered with five more Quadrant 1 wins than anyone else in the country and with the No. 1 ranking in five of the seven metrics the selection committee uses.

"Now, they have wins over No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Houston, No. 7 Purdue and No. 10 Iowa State, with their only two losses coming to teams that were 1-seeds in the mock bracket reveal Saturday afternoon, No. 3 Duke and co-No. 3 Florida."

It wasn't just that the Tigers won on Sunday, but how Auburn won that impressed Borzello. Despite moving to 7-0 in SEC road games, only Georgia and Ole Miss were ranked when Auburn played them on the road.

"Saturday also showed a side of Auburn we hadn't seen in an SEC road game this season, and quelled any doubts we had about the Tigers' ability to dominate an elite opponent in a true road environment in conference play," Borzello continued.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was certainly impressed with the atmosphere at Coleman Coliseum.

"Look, we're going to see those guys again, and maybe again," Pearl told ESPN after the game on facing Alabama as many as four times this season. "So good for Alabama. Coach (Oats) has done an amazing job with that club. This was a great environment to play, the best environment in Coleman since I've been even a coach at Tennessee."

While Pearl was full of praise for his opponent, he left little doubt what he thinks of his own club after the impressive-road win.

"We played great from start to finish," Pearl said. "We acted like we were the No. 1 team. We prepared like were were the No. 1 team.

"And we are the No. 1 team in the country."

Pearl will get no argument from ESPN or the voters this week.

ALABAMA POSTGAME NOTES via Auburn Athletics

• Auburn claimed the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup between two SEC teams in conference history.

• Bruce Pearl became the first head coach to win a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game with two different schools and the first to win two AP Top 2 matchups on the road. Pearl previously led No. 2 Tennessee to a road win at No. 1 Memphis in February of 2008.

• Auburn is now 8-7 in its last 15 games against Alabama in the rivalry series.

• Auburn has now won three-straight ranked matchups against Alabama with two of those coming in Tuscaloosa. Prior to that, the Crimson Tide had won the first four ranked versus ranked games between the two teams all-time. Overall, the Tigers are 10-2 in their last 12 Top 25 matchups and are 3-1 in ranked matchups on the road this season.

• Saturday’s game was Auburn’s fifth Top 10 matchup of the season, which is just one fewer than the Tigers had in program history entering the season. Auburn is 3-2 in those matchups this season compared to just 1-5 before this season.

• Auburn improved to 23-2 on the season, which is tied with the 2021-22 Tigers for the second-best, 25-game start in program history, just one game behind the 24-1 start in 1998-99. AU has won at least 23 games six times in the last eight seasons compared to just three times in program history before that.

• Auburn, which leads the SEC with an 11-1 conference record, reaches 11 SEC wins for the sixth time in the last eight seasons and the 20th time in program history.

• AU set a school record with its seventh SEC road win of the season, breaking the old mark of six road wins in conference play in 1950, 1970, 1999 and 2022. The Tigers’ seven SEC road wins this season lead the league, one ahead of Alabama with six.

• Pearl joined former head coach Bill Lynn as the only Auburn head coaches to lead the Tigers to three wins on the road at Alabama all-time.

• Pearl is now 14-14 against Alabama in his head coaching career including 9-11 at Auburn. He is 5-8 in Tuscaloosa including 3-7 during his coaching career on the Plains.

• Auburn surpassed the 90-point mark for the ninth time this season and the third time in the last five games with its 94 points at Alabama.

• AU made 12-of-30 from 3-point range compared to just 5-of-26 for Alabama, who came into the game leading the SEC with 10.3 three-pointers per game. It was the sixth time this season the Tigers have made at least 12 three-point field goals in a game including the second time in SEC play (14 at Ole Miss).

• Auburn finished with 42 bench points, which is the third most for the Tigers this season overall and the most in an SEC game.

• AU committed just four turnovers in the game, which was the fewest turnovers for the Tigers since they had only three turnovers against Indiana last season. It was also the 15th time Auburn has had single-digit turnovers this season including the last four games when they have averaged 6.75 turnovers.

• Auburn had six players in double figures for the third time this season and the first time in SEC play. Johni Broome led Auburn with his 75th career double-double and his 15th this season with 19 points and 14 rebounds to go with six assists, two blocks and one steal against the Crimson Tide. Broome went for 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one steal in the first half. It was the 10th time he has scored in double figures in the first half this season. He passed former Tiger Scott Pohlman to move into 12th on Auburn’s career scoring list finishing the day with 1,460 points. It was his sixth game of at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on the season. The Tigers previously had six double-figure scorers against Richmond and North Carolina.

• Denver Jones added 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor, 3-of-5 from long range and 3-of-3 free throws at Alabama. Jones finished with one rebound and one block. Jones has drained 100 three-pointers in his Auburn career. It was his 78th career game in double figures including 16 this season. He scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting including 3-of-4 3-pointers and 2-of-2 from the foul line in the second half.

• Chad Baker-Mazara scored 15 points of 4-of-7 field goals, 2-of-3 three-pointers and 5-of-5 from the foul line at Alabama. He added five rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. It was his 50th career game in double figures including 18 this season. CBM needs just one point to reach 1,000 points in his collegiate career.

• Miles Kelly added 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to go with eight rebounds and two assists at Alabama. Kelly scored 12 points in the second half including going 7-of-8 from the free throw line. He made both of his field goal attempts and his only 3-point attempt. It marked his 63rd career game in double figures including 14 this season.

• Chaney Johnson poured in 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting overall, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 2-of-2 free throws to go with five rebounds and one block. Johnson has now scored in double figures 13 times this season including four-straight games during which he is averaging 15.0 points per contest on 68.6 percent shooting (24-of-35). He has tabulated 87 double-figure scoring games in his career.

• Freshman Tahaad Pettiford scored in double figures for the 15th time in 25 career games. He scored 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor, one 3-pointer and 2-of-3 from the foul line. Pettiford went for 11 points in the second half on 4-of-6 field goals, 1-of-2 from 3-point range and 2-of-3 from the foul line. He has scored in double figures in nine of 11 games against ranked opponents and nine of 12 SEC games.