Alabama Basketball Ready for Hostile Environment at Auburn
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For Alabama's freshmen, Saturday will be their first trip to Neville Arena, but it isn't their first rodeo this season.
The Crimson Tide is 7-1 on the road this season with wins at No. 1 Houston and Arkansas, but has only won one of its last six games at Auburn. Ahead of their first matchup on the Plains, Brandon Miller and Rylan Griffen both said they know Auburn has one of the loudest fan bases in the country, but it's not a huge concern.
"At the end of the day, you've got to play the game," Griffen said Friday. "And it's played on the court, not in the stands."
It's all about staying locked in as a team and tuning out the noise according to the players. The previous experience in front of tough crowds on the road also gives the team confidence in how to handle these situations.
"Once you win away, I feel like the crowd really can't say much to you," Miller said. "I feel like we’ll be fine at Auburn with or without this hostile crowd. It’s all about us staying together and just being leaders out there.”
On paper, No. 3 Alabama (21-3, 11-0 SEC) is the favorite over the slumping Tigers (17-7, 7-4 SEC), but Neville arena is a tough place to play. College Gameday will also be in town to broadcast from the arena before the game, which adds even more juice to an already crazy rivalry matchup. It will be the first time the Crimson Tide has appeared on the program for basketball.
Prior to their loss against Texas A&M on Jan. 25, the Tigers held the nations longest home-winning streak at 28 games. Alabama head coach Nate Oats acknowledged the impact the crowd can make, but attributed a lot of Auburn's success at Neville Arena to the overall quality of its program and the level of players Bruce Pearl has been able to recruit.
"You have a hard time hearing anything in there," Oats said. "I mean I think the crowd’s got something to do with why it's hard to win there, but their players and team has something to do with it too."
Auburn won both matchups between the two teams last season. Oats is 1-2 at Auburn in his career as the Crimson Tide head coach, with the lone win coming in 2021 as part of Alabama's run to the SEC regular season title. There were capacity restrictions for that game due to the pandemic, so he has yet to lead a Crimson Tide team to a win at Neville Arena in front of a full crowd, but will have the opportunity Saturday.
Alabama and Auburn are scheduled for a 1 p.m. tipoff on ESPN.
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