Auburn Travels to Tuscaloosa to Face Alabama

The Auburn Tigers (19-10. 9-7 SEC) will face the intense No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide (25-4), 15-1 SEC) Wednesday in Tuscaloosa. Alabama not only has the chance to dominate Auburn in the regular season, but a Crimson Tide win would give them the SEC regular season title. Conversely, a road win for Auburn will help strengthen its NCAA Tournament resume and the Tigers are concentrated on pulling off an upset.

Focused.#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/HhvsBFx5UD

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) March 1, 2023

Auburn

The Tigers are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Kentucky Wildcats 86-54 on Saturday. Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Antonio Reeves had stellar performances. Tshiebwe dominated the Tigers with 22 points and 17 rebounds in addition to Reeves’ 21 points.

Final. #WarEagle | @ChickfilA pic.twitter.com/YiPGdjueT5

— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) February 25, 2023

The Tigers have dropped five of its last seven games and its remaining two games come against ranked opponents in Alabama and Tennessee. While the Crimson Tide are ranked 11th in the country in 3-point attempt rates (47.1%), Auburn controls its opponents with a 34.1% three-point attempt clip.

Alabama

The Crimson Tide have made noise in not just the college basketball rankings but at home in Coleman Coliseum. For the first time since the 2010-11 season, they are 14-0 at home.

Alabama scraped away with an 86-83 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. The Tigers and Razorbacks have similar defensive schemes, and if Alabama’s defense plays the way it did against Arkansas, Auburn has a chance to pull off the upset. The last time Auburn and Alabama met, the Crimson Tide won by just eight points.

A win at Coleman over the Razorbacks!#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/kdxOYw9R9A

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) February 25, 2023

The Alabama Freshman

Brandon Miller is a major key to the success of the Alabama offense. Against Arkansas, he recorded a team-high 24 points. He leads this Alabama team with an average of 19.7 points per game. Additionally, 62 points is the difference between Miller and Collin Sexton‘s program record for most points by a freshman. Sexton scored 632 points in the 2017-18 season and is now a point guard for the Utah Jazz.

Fellow teammate Noah Clowney is also contributing this season with 10 points per game, and he is Alabama’s top rebounder. Guard Rylan Griffen is also a player to watch. Griffen came off of the bench and scored 16 points to help propel the Crimson Tide over the Razorbacks.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. tonight.