Second-Half Surge Blows Alabama out of Auburn Arena, Tigers Win 100-81

The Crimson Tide made more three-pointers than in any previous SEC game, but it still wasn't near enough against the top team in the country.

AUBURN, Ala. — Despite a barrage of made three-pointers out of halftime that cut what was once a 19-point Auburn lead down to two points, Alabama didn't have enough fuel in the tank or depth on the bench to complete the comeback against the No. 1 Tigers. 

Led by Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford, Alabama came out of the half on an 18-6 run, and a Shackelford three cut the Auburn lead to 57-55. The Tigers responded with 24-6 run to completely wipe out the momentum Alabama had gained and any hopes of a Crimson Tide comeback. 

Auburn proved why it is the No. 1 team in the country and held on for the 100-81 win in Auburn Arena Tuesday night. It was Alabama's largest margin of defeat this season. (The previous was 14 against Memphis in December.)

"That’s a good team," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. "We’ve got to be better than we were tonight. They’re good, I mean they don’t really have any weak links. Their front court kind of overwhelmed us a little bit. I thought some of our guards played well— Shack and Quinerly got it going there in the second half. Those guys competed hard."

The big difference in the opening second-half run was the aggressiveness of Quinerly driving to the basket. Alabama was also able to string together stops on defense. Oats said he was proud of the the energy the starting five of Quinerly, Shackelford, Ellis, Juwan Gary and Charles Bediako brought to open the second half. The problem came when the Crimson Tide had to turn into the bench once that starting five began to get tired. 

"When we went to the bench, it wasn’t quite the same energy we had in there, and we couldn’t get stops," Oats said. "We had some turnovers and took a couple bad shots in there too."

Alabama falls to 14-8 overall and 4-5 in the SEC. Shackelford had 26 points and Quinerly added 20, but the Crimson Tide couldn't get enough help on offense outside of those two, especially late in the second half. Keon Ellis only had 3 points until the final 43 seconds of the game when he sunk two three-pointers after the game was already far out of reach. 

Shackelford hit that three-pointer to cut the lead to two with 14:34 to go. Alabama only made one field goal over the next five minutes of game time. During that stretch, the game got too out of control for Alabama to mount another comeback. 

It was actually one of Alabama's better shooting games of the season and best in the SEC so far. The Crimson Tide shot 14-37 from beyond the arc. However, where Alabama has normally been one of the best teams in the country this year, inside the paint, was a big struggle Tuesday night. The Tigers outscored Alabama in the paint 52-22. Auburn also led Alabama with bench points by a 44-20 margin. 

For Oats, one of the biggest issue was transition defense. Auburn had 27 points in transition and shot 31-39 from the free throw line with many of those fouls drawn in transition plays when Alabama didn't fully get back on defense. 

"If you give up almost 60 points in transition and at the free throw line, you’re going to have a hard time winning games," Oats said. "Transition defense has got to get better. We’ve got to guard without fouling. We’ve just got to get better."

The Crimson Tide held the lead for the majority of the first seven minutes of the game and were up 14-10 with 13:45. After the Tigers tied the game at 14 with four straight free throws, it became the Wendell Green show for Auburn. He scored seven points for Auburn in about a two-minute span

Alabama came out of the gate with high intensity and aggressiveness on defense, getting stops early on. However, during that time when they were getting stops on defense, they were not converting consistently enough on offense. 

The Tigers then started consistently finding themselves at the free throw line and built up a 19-point lead. Back to back to back threes right before the half cut the Auburn lead to 12, but two more free throws gave Auburn a 51-37 lead at the half. 

Next up for Alabama, the team will play its third straight top-five opponent with No. 5 Kentucky coming into Coleman Coliseum Saturday at 7 p.m.

Alabama Athletics

Alabama Athletics

Alabama Athletics

Alabama Athletics

Alabama Athletics