aubiefifty

you are so right! if they do not hurt anyone i love the rumor mill tho.

i was not that big on him and i am not sure why but i have mad love for him now! but i do love all my auburn folks even if i do not like them if that makes any sense..........

this thread did not age well.

i do not think so but you know me bro if i can screw it up chances are i will.

i bet the mighty golf knows about this. i asked my magic eight ball and it never lies...............

at waffle house they serve their food to tables that are lit by candle light? It is a tradition and there might be other things they do as well. i heard it is really neat. treat your sig others............grins

i will check back in later for any football updates.

al.com How No. 12 Auburn got revenge against No. 16 Alabama and made an SEC statement Published: Feb. 07, 2024, 10:43 p.m. 6–7 minutes Nate Oats knew this only moments after he’d beaten Auburn two weeks ago in Tuscaloosa. And the last question the Alabama head coach was asked in his press conference that Jan. 24 night sealed it. After getting out to a 14-point lead over Auburn at halftime on his home floor, and watching that lead shrink all the way down to a free throw from Auburn forward Chad Baker-Mazara to tie the game with 12 seconds left. Baker-Mazara missed, and Auburn escaped. An Alabama defense that has struggled throughout this season — outside the top 250 nationally in scoring defense — had collapsed in the second half to allow 45 Auburn points and Oats knew this was a sign of what could be to come as a trip to Neville Arena loomed. “We’ll see a better version of them,” Oats said on Jan. 24. “If we play like we did tonight, we’ll lose at their place. We’re going to be extremely happy, excited we got the win. We’re in first place. We’ve got to work on between now and then. They’re a good team. They’re going to play better at home.” He was right. Auburn (19-4, 8-2) figured out Alabama’s defense in the second half in Tuscaloosa, and No. 12 Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl knew to continue capitalizing on his team’s advantage on the interior in an eventual 99-81 win over No. 16 Alabama on Wednesday night. Since halftime in Tuscaloosa, Auburn beat Alabama 144-116. It was just one bad half that kept Auburn from sweeping this season’s series. There’s a reason why Auburn was never overly concerned after the loss two weeks ago. The loss in the first edition this season of the Iron Bowl of Basketball ended an 11-game win streak and was the first in two consecutive losses on the road. But when Auburn heard the celebrations in the Alabama locker room down the hall of Coleman Coliseum after escaping late, this team already knew to look forward to this Wednesday night back at home. “Yeah, you know, after the Alabama game, we all felt like we won, in a way,” forward Jaylin Williams said. “It was a very weird feeling. I’ve never felt that. We felt like we could’ve done so much better. Knowing we could’ve done so much better, we felt OK with losing that game.” No one on this team has used the term moral victory, but that game in Tuscaloosa was about as close it would come. Auburn won the second half at Coleman Coliseum 45-35. Auburn’s defense held Alabama to 9-31 shooting the second half in the eventual Tuscaloosa loss. Auburn cut down on turnovers that had been crucially bad in the first half and figured out exactly how to beat an Alabama offense that has been consistently one of the best in the nation this season. So two weeks later, Auburn planned to be physical. It planned to take advantage of its size, and it knew that while rivalry matters between these two, this was a game maybe less about Alabama specifically and more about keeping pace in the standings. “This was a must-win,” Auburn center Johni Broome said after the game Wednesday. Auburn played like it. Oats said Alabama played like a team that knew it would be in first place even with a loss. Pearl said he knew Auburn had a size advantage that he planned to exploit, and with 40 points in the paint, Auburn out-muscled its in-state rival. Alabama led 37-36 with just under five minutes to play in the first half. Auburn closed the half on a 19-4 run. Broome scored 12 points in the final 3:30 of the first half. Auburn fed the ball to the interior and pulled away from Alabama. Auburn went into halftime with 55 points already, and a 14-point lead — the exact margin it trailed by in Tuscaloosa at halftime. And when Auburn responded in the second half in the first matchup, Alabama didn’t at Neville Arena. Broome and Williams combined to score 50 of Auburn’s 99 points. With its physicality, Auburn totaled 24 second chance points. Broome had five blocks. Auburn has 13 steals. When the second half became defined by Auburn getting to the free throw line, Auburn relied on its shooting from the stripe to be improved from a year ago. It was. Auburn made 40-50 from the line. “We were pounding the ball inside and they were just climbing all over us,” Pearl said. “I mean, they were fouling us every time. So I don’t think the officials wanted to call it like that, but I think both teams played hard, played physically.” It all combined for Auburn’s statement, an 18-point win, and another Quad 1 win. Auburn had none before it went to Ole Miss last Saturday. It’s now gotten two in a row. These are the types of wins that transform Auburn from the analytics darling its been all season into a true contender in this league. “I felt like going in this game was clearly the biggest regular season game we’ve had this year because if Alabama gets this one, they’re two games up on us and we’re probably not in the championship race and we’d like to still be in it,” Pearl said. “And so we put ourselves in a position where at least we’re still in it.” Auburn is now in a four-way tie with Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina atop the SEC. It has turned a resume without a true quality win into getting two as many games. It’s why Pearl has now said Auburn has gotten its best win of the season after straight games. In the first ranked-versus-ranked matchup between Auburn and Alabama in this building, Auburn made its statement. In one of the most significant Iron Bowl of Basketball matches in this rivalry’s history, Auburn responded. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

al.com ‘Welcome to Pearlville’: Auburn students camp out for over 24 hours ahead of Alabama game Published: Feb. 07, 2024, 3:15 p.m. 3–4 minutes Come the hours of midnight to 2 a.m., Andrew Reid, a senior civil engineering major at Auburn, called it quits. “It’s like a 30-degree difference from what is now and what it was,” Reid said in an interview with AL.com Wednesday afternoon. “It just got cold. My nose, my ears and my neck were getting cold.” So Reid, after more than 12 hours of being camped outside Neville Arena, decided to head home for the night. Fortunately for him, he had friends who braved the elements, keeping his spot in the student line to get into Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game against Alabama. The line of students outside Neville Arena started well over 24 hours before tipoff between No. 12 Auburn and No. 16 Alabama in the second game of this year’s two-game “Iron Bowl of Basketball” series. “We’re all kinda taking shifts,” Reid said. “We had a little tent. Some people out here just kinda slept in a chair or on the ground. Some of us didn’t say, some of us went home but we always made sure someone was here.” In terms of dinner, Reid calls it a “free-for-all.” While some people brought pizza and snacks, others made a visit to Village Dining or took the short walk to Momma Goldberg’s Deli on West Magnolia Avenue. At around 9 p.m., Auburn players Johni Broome, KD Johnson, Dylan Cardwell and Jalen Harper showed up with boxes upon boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts to distribute to the crowd of students. Come Wednesday afternoon at about 1:30, tents had been taken down to make room for more students. Meanwhile, Reid’s friends resorted to camping chairs and played a game of Uno. Other students waiting in line threw frisbees and footballs in nearby grassy areas. “It’s the best tailgate outside of football. It’s a tailgate,” Reid said, admitting there are always plenty of “beverages.” For Reid, Wednesday’s stakeout wasn’t his first. In fact, he was a part of what students call “Pearlville 1.0,” which was the campout ahead of the Kentucky-Auburn game in 2022. “That first year, we didn’t have much structure. There was no structure. It was just literally a free-for-all with no structure and we had lines going past the Village Dining,” Reid recalls. “The line started like an actual line, but once the doors open, it flooded and it was a stampede. Now people have figured there needs to be a little bit of structure, a little discipline, some trust, some honor.” And on Wednesday afternoon, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl, the namesake of “Pearlville,” made his way to the line to express his appreciation for Auburn’s dedicated students ahead of Wednesday night’s highly anticipated Iron Bowl matchup. Auburn and Alabama are set to tip off Wednesday night at 6 for a game that’ll be broadcasted on ESPN2. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

al.com How Bruce Pearl built Auburn, the deepest team in America Published: Feb. 07, 2024, 6:33 a.m. 12–15 minutes At some point last summer, this Auburn team all sat down together for breakfast. The dates are fuzzy with this much time together with breakfast every day, practice every day, the grind of the summer in the humid Alabama heat all built on one premise: spending time together. That premise was simple, maybe even cliché, but Bruce Pearl was persistent. And maybe he was thinking ahead. He was going to build a team in a different mold than the one he’d won two regular season SEC titles with since 2018. There would be no superstar on this roster to rely on. It would be a collection of returnees melded with transfers from Conference USA, Division II and junior college. And one McDonald’s All-American tossed in the mix. It was an experiment. So to make this collection of 11 players all sharing time nearly equally, Pearl’s team had to like each other — a concept so seemingly trivial but so important. It led to Pearl building the deepest team in America. “This is the closest team I’ve ever been on,” center Dylan Cardwell said, in his fourth season with Auburn and around here long enough to see a difference. “Everybody talks to everybody, and that’s kind of rare. And we all hang out. There’s no cliques on this team. It’s just fun to be on a team that everyone’s your genuine friend and your genuine brother, so that’s kind of where I see the difference in the past couple years.” But that took time to build. Jaylin Williams, now in his fifth year at Auburn and the program’s all-time winningest player, said it was tough with so many new faces accepting new roles. Auburn’s players all sat down for breakfast together because Pearl made it mandatory. Show up late, and face punishment in the form of running. Asked who was late and Williams sat back and laughed. “Probably like Johni or K.D.,” Williams said. One day, Williams remembered, Johni Broome was so late that Williams and several other teammates went to his room and banged on his door until he woke up and came to join them. “I don’t think we ran for that time but we ran the next day because we were late,” Williams said. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl yells at his players during a timeout in an NCAA college basketball game against Baylor, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Sioux Falls, S.D. (AP Photo/Josh Jurgens)AP The pieces to blend in with Williams, Cardwell, Broome and several other returnees came from starkly different routes, but all had to fall into the same recruiting pitch. There was Denver Jones, a guard from FIU moving closer to home. He averaged more than 20 points per game last season and played 33.4 minutes. He was coming to Auburn as a step up in level, but a decrease in role. There was Chad Baker-Mazara, who was given another chance at a Division I level after beginning his career at Duquesne, then a transfer to San Diego State then a year at Northwest Florida State College before, at last, arriving at Auburn. There was Chaney Johnson — maybe the best athlete on this Auburn team — who spent the last three years at Division II Alabama-Huntsville. There was Aden Holloway, a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American with all the pedigree Pearl could look for in a lead guard, and yet he asked Holloway to fit into a role, too. Holloway obliged. They all did. “They’re happy to be here,” Pearl said. “And so therefore willing to accept less.” That recruiting pitch is selfless, and not quite traditional in this age of the transfer portal. In an age where players move around for opportunity and exposure, Pearl sought players willing to cut back. In an era where big names move from big school to big school, Pearl sought several players who hadn’t even played Division I basketball. “We studied the film, we studied them against certain opponents and we made evaluations not based on the name on the front of the jerseys,” Pearl said in September. “We made evaluations based on how good we thought they were going to be.” The sum would be greater than its parts. The parts had to accept that. AUBURN, AL - JAN 20 - Auburn Men's Head Coach Bruce Pearl during the game between the #13 Auburn Tigers and the #22 Ole Miss Rebels at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Photo by Zach BlandAuburn University Athletics So Pearl made them have breakfast together. He made them work out together. He made them hang out together. For this to work, the chemistry had to work, first. “I‘ve always believed that, and I’ve said it many, many times, that I can help us win some games, but that really, truly players win championships,” Pearl said. “I know it sounds kind of goofy. It’s just true.” It led to pre-season practices where Pearl never would have a true grasp on exactly what he had. With so many new faces in new roles, it was hard to tell. He had position battles at several spots. Yet the observation Pearl quickly made turned out to be very astute: it didn’t matter who was going to start. “I can tell you, though, there will be a ton of parity — more than any team I’ve coached,” Pearl said in October. “I would say the balance of minutes will be the greatest on this team more than any team I’ve coached. And I’ve played 10 guys double-digit minutes my entire career. We won’t drop off much when we go to the bench. And, again, are our starters good enough? There’s just not a lot of drop-off. Maybe, probably, a little bit of both.” There isn’t a drop-off, and it’s shown on the court. The starters for most of the season have been Holloway, Jones, Chris Moore, Williams and Broome. But Auburn’s bench scores 36 points per game. That’s the best in SEC and fourth best in the nation. Auburn’s bench plays 43.9% of the total minutes for a game, the fifth most of any team in the nation, per KenPom. Nine players are in the 93rd percentile or better nationally in +/- rating, per CBB Analytics. Five Auburn players have usage rates in the 65th percentile or better nationally, per CBB Analytics, and only two are current starters. They share the ball: Auburn is top 10 nationally in assists per game. At one point in January, a five-man Auburn lineup made up entirely of bench players was the most efficient lineup in the entire country, beating out every other team’s starters. Or, take several three-man Auburn combinations still among the best in the SEC — and the best all of them all coming off Auburn’s bench. Only two Auburn players average double-figure scoring. Auburn’s top seven scorers all average more than seven points per game. Baker-Mazara, off the bench, is Auburn’s third-leading scorer. Pearl has hardly made changes to his rotation. It’s not broken, no need to fix it. He’s only made two starting lineup changes this season based on performance. Pearl moved Holloway into the starting lineup over Tre Donaldson after the first two games for how well he’d shot the ball off the bench. And last week, he moved Donaldson back into the lineup over Holloway due to the freshman’s struggles in SEC play. Yet for the competition between them that began the moment Holloway arrived, the duo works together nearly seamlessly. This is the culmination of a continued effort from Pearl throughout his tenure here to truly find his proverbial guys. And maybe his best effort in team building came when he took this unconventional approach. “And guess what, when I’m out there recruiting,” Peal said. “You’re going to want to know Dylan Cardwell, or Johni Broome or Tre Donaldson or Chris Moore or Lior Berman. Or Jaylin Williams. K.D. Johnson, you know what I’m saying. And I tell my guys returning: you’re gonna like Chaney Johnson. You’re gonna want to play with Denver Jones. You’re gonna want to play with Aden and Chad and AD. That’s been I think who we’ve been for a long time.” AUBURN, AL - SEPTEMBER 26 - Head Coach Bruce Pearl during the Auburn Tigers Men's Basketball first practice of 2023-24 at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers But it didn’t take until a few games into the season for the pieces to all fit together, for all that time spent over the summer to finally give the payoff Pearl sought. Cardwell said that moment came after Auburn beat St. Bonaventure in New York — the fourth game of the season. “I think that was the first game where everyone was each other’s fans, rather than wishing they got the opportunity to play,” Cardwell said. “The coaches kinda acknowledged that and how we were actually cheering for each other instead of being like, ‘Aw, I wish it was me that had the glory or it was me that had the opportunities.’” And from there, Auburn’s bench took off. AUBURN, AL - NOVEMBER 01 - Head Coach Bruce Pearl during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Auburn Montgomery Warhawks at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers The rotations stayed quick and frequent as if like a hockey shift. They played selfless the way Pearl intended, and the way Cardwell hadn’t seen Auburn play during his time here. It led Auburn to the heights of an 11-game win streak and a climb into the top 10 of the Associated Press top 25 poll. In some games, like Auburn’s January win over Ole Miss at Neville Arena, the depth showed when Baker-Mazara passed up his rotation to play because he saw his teammate had played better. “Leave him in there. Lior (Berman) is playing so great,” Pearl remembers Baker-Mazara telling Auburn’s coaches as Berman was playing well defensively against former Auburn guard Allen Flanigan. Yet that same Baker-Mazara can flip into Auburn’s aggressor. In the Ole Miss re-match, Baker-Mazara kicked Auburn’s coaches out of the locker room as Auburn trailed at halftime and talked to his teammates. “I was like, ‘No way we just destroyed them right here and then we go out there and get destroyed,’” Baker-Mazara said. “I was like, ‘Hey guys, this is probably the best half of basketball they ever will play. They can’t play better than this. So they can either play the same if we let them or play worse if we stop them.’” OXFORD, MS - FEBRUARY 03 - Auburn's K.D. Johnson (0) during the game between the #16 Auburn Tigers and the Ole Miss Rebels at Sandy and John Black Pavalion in Oxford, MS on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers Baker-Mazara’s speech rallied Auburn to a 56-point second half and Auburn’s finest response after it had lost its previous two road games by a combined 10 points, crashing its win streak to a halt. But that only worked, Pearl and Baker-Mazara said, because the locker room had enough trust to listen. A trust that built since summer breakfasts. That long-winded plan is why this team was dancing on the court in warm-ups against Mississippi State in late January even coming off a loss to Alabama three days prior. And when Auburn lost that game too, nothing changed when a giddy bunch returned to Neville Arena and beat Vanderbilt and beat Ole Miss on Saturday for what’s so far been a season-defining win. All leading into a most-important rematch against Alabama on Wednesday night. “And they would not allow that to happen, and I thought that had a lot to do with their closeness,” Pearl said of Auburn’s response after losing to Alabama and Mississippi State. “I think that’s what it boils down to: their friendship, their respect.” It was Pearl’s experiment. A continuing drone of hours to finally get Pearl’s equation to balance — the sum indeed greater than its parts. “It’s fun to be a kid again,” Cardwell said. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com AUBURN, AL - SEPTEMBER 26 - Head Coach Bruce Pearl, Team during the Auburn Tigers Men's Basketball first practice of 2023-24 at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

247sports.com Auburn lands commitment from TE Hollis Davidson Christian Clemente 2–3 minutes Fresh off his visit for Junior Day, Auburn has landed a commitment from tight end Hollis Davidson. The 6-foot-5, 238-pound Georgia native is commitment No. 8 for Auburn in the cycle and commitment No. 2 for Ben Aigamaua at the tight end position. Davidson is ranked as the No. 369 player, No. 21 tight end and No. 42 player from Georgia in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rankings. Davidson visited Auburn in the fall for a game and was back Saturday. His grandparents and great-grandparents on his mom’s side all attended and graduated from Auburn. "Man, it was great. The facilities down here are amazing, the weather was great it was cool outside," Davidson said after Junior Day. "Everybody was showing love, I got to be here with Ryan (Ghea) — he’s one of my boys and he’s committed here. I enjoyed the day. Coach Ben (Aigamaua), Coach Logan (Bradley) everybody was showing a lot of love and it was amazing.” With Auburn set to lose three tight ends to graduation after the 2024 season, Davidson is the second of what’s set to be a three-man class at the position in the 2025 recruiting cycle. Aigamaua’s relentless recruiting effort was a key in Davidson’s early commitment, despite Miami, Penn State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Cincinnati all being involved. As was tight ends assistant coach Logan Bradley. "They’re great. I really like how Ben is a family man," Davidson said. "He wants to take me under his wing if I come here and he gets along with my family really well. Coach Logan, I actually met him today he was showing me around everywhere and he seems really awesome.” Davidson's father played volleyball at Penn State and his aunt was an All-American volleyball player for the Nittany Lions before coaching at Notre Dame. As a junior for McIntosh, Davidson caught 30 passes for 436 yards and three touchdowns.

Auburn Football Reports: Auburn to elevate Vontrell King-Williams to defensive line coach Published: Feb. 07, 2024, 4:19 p.m. AUBURN, AL - March 01, 2023 - Auburn Defensive Analyst Vontrell King-Williams during spring practice at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, AL. Photo by Declan GreeneAuburn University Athletics Subscribers can gift articles to anyone By Ainslie Lee | alee@al.com It seems it didn’t take long for Hugh Freeze to land on who Auburn’s next defensive line coach would be be after reports that Jeremy Garrett would be hired away by the Jacksonville Jaguars surfaced on Feb. 2. Five days later, it appears Freeze will be promoting from inside the program, elevating Vontrell King-Williams from defensive analyst to defensive line coach. Brian Stultz of Auburn Rivals’ was first to report King-Williams’ promotion Wednesday afternoon. The promotion of King-Williams comes after he spent the 2023 season under Garrett at Auburn. Prior to last fall, King-Williams coached at Eastern Michigan, primarily focusing on defensive tackles. Before that, King-Williams worked as a graduate assistant under Freeze at Liberty during the 2020 and 2021 seasons — again primarily focusing on the defensive line. With King-Williams now in the fold as Auburn’s defensive line coach, barring any changes, Auburn’s new-look defensive staff appears set for the 2024 season and will feature new faces in defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly. Returning to Auburn’s defensive staff is linebackers coach Josh Aldridge, secondary coach Wesley McGriff and the now-elevated King-Williams. Former Auburn defensive lineman Marcus Harris took kindly to Wednesday’s news, endorsing King-Williams’ promotion in a post to X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. In addition to his stops at Auburn, Eastern Michigan and Liberty, King-Williams also spent the 2017 season as a defensive line intern at his alma mater, the University of Texas at San Antonio. A native of Chicago, King-Williams started his playing career at the University of Illinois, where he spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons before heading to Butler Community College for one year. King-Williams finished his playing days at UTSA, where he appeared in 25 games and tallied 17 tackles across two seasons of action.

the gentleman who posted a thread on we are not very good needs to eat some grow. i will not mention any names to protect the guilty!

I posted everything i could find on this special occasion! It is great to be an Auburn Tiger! I passed out after the game or i would have posted sooner. grins

Lets All Sing! grins................

BOO HOO WILBER! Our high school gym can sure kept the lights on for them lol It's great to be an Auburn Tiger! I will be quite the peacock strutting around the next few days. I would puff on a big ol cigar if i had one.

saturdaydownsouth.com Auburn gets Iron Bowl of Basketball revenge with blowout win over Alabama Andrew Olson | 3 hours ago 3–4 minutes Auburn took control of Wednesday’s Iron Bowl of Basketball in the final minutes of the first half and never looked back. The No. 12 Tigers defeated No. 16 Alabama 99-81 to even the regular-season rivalry series and shakeup the SEC standings. As one might expect with these two teams, there were spurts of scoring for each side in the early going. Auburn had a 32-18 lead before Alabama took a 37-36 at the 4:38 mark in the first half. It would be the last lead of the game for the Crimson Tide. Bruce Pearl’s squad closed out the half on a tear, and suddenly UA found itself down 55-41 at the half on the road. Auburn’s Jungle environment made sure that a road comeback wouldn’t be an easy task. College basketball season is heating up as we get closer to the NCAA Tournament! Be ready for March Madness and sign up now for a mobile sports betting app recommended by our experts! Auburn made sure not to let up on the attack in the second 20 minutes. Pearl might have liked a little more defense, but no coach is going to complain about outscoring the opponent 44-40 in the second half, adding to a 14-point advantage. Alabama was the better 3-point shooting squad on the night, making 9-of-26 from beyond the arc whereas the Tigers were just 5-of-19. Auburn was better at just about everything else. Auburn dominated Alabama in points off turnovers (22-10), second-chance points (24-12), bench points (31-8), points in the paint (40-26), fast break points (26-8), blocks (12-5), steals (13-2) and assists (15-8). Jaylin Williams and Johni Broome put on a show in the national spotlight. Williams led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-13 field-goal shooting, while going 9-of-10 at the line. Broome was right behind him with 24 points on 7-of-16 shooting, along with a team-high 7 rebounds. The officiating crew had a busy night with the whistles. Auburn shot 50 free throws, making 40. Alabama was 28-of-35 at the line. The Tide lost Grant Nelson and Aaron Estrada to fouls. Alabama had been on top as the only SEC team with 1 conference loss. With Auburn’s win, there are now three teams sitting at 8-2 in conference play: Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina. Tennessee is 7-2, having played one fewer conference contest. TRENDING 58,148 READS 51,772 READS 23,016 READS Andrew Olson Andrew is a News Manager for XLMedia's Saturday Football brands. Follow on Twitter.

247sports.com 3 takeaways from Auburns 9981 win over Alabama Nathan King 7–8 minutes Two weeks to the day, Auburn got revenge against its bitter rival — in dominant fashion. Despite a clunky second half that featured 55 combined free-throw attempts between the teams, Auburn held a comfortable lead for most of the night and handled first-place Alabama, 99-81 inside Neville Arena on Wednesday night. Auburn is now 13-2 against ranked opponents on its home floor over the past seven seasons. "I felt like going in this game was clearly the biggest regular-season game we’ve had this year because if Alabama gets this one, they’re two games up on us and we’re probably not in the championship race," Bruce Pearl said postgame. "... And so we put ourselves in a position where at least we’re still in it. Crowd was amazing. The environment was tremendous. ESPN goes to a lot of great buildings and a lot of sellout crowds, but this place is different.” Here are Auburn Undercover's instant impressions, as the Tigers are now tied with the Crimson Tide and South Carolina for the league's best record at 8-2. TIGERS POWERED BY FIRST-HALF RUN Nick Pringle poked the bear, and Johni Broome responded with a dominant few minutes to close the first half. After Auburn led by as many as 14, Alabama roared back with a 19-4 run, as the Crimson Tide shot 6-of-15 from beyond the arc in the first half. The Tigers went cold with misses on seven of eight shots. But after Pringle and Broome exchanged words under the basket, Broome scored 5 quick points to break the run, including a 3-pointer off a Chris Moore offensive rebound. Three possessions later, Broome saved a rebound to Tre Donaldson, who threw a runout pass ahead to Jaylin Williams. The lid nearly blew off Neville Arena when Williams decided to windmill dunk in the open floor, putting Auburn up 55-41 at the break. Nate Oats called timeout as the crowd went ballistic, but the Crimson Tide couldn’t get a shot off before halftime, as K.D. Johnson locked down Mark Sears and forced a shot-clock violation. During a 16-2 run to close the half, Broome accounted for 12 points — after he had just 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting at the under-4 timeout with 3:44 left. BROOME, WILLIAMS CLEAN UP INSIDE Whether it was scoring inside or earning a trip to the line, Auburn had plenty of success feeding the ball to its frontcourt. The Tigers took advantage of their matchups in the paint with their two veteran big men, as Broome and Jaylin Williams combined for 50 points — more than half of Auburn's scoring Wednesday night. Williams scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and remained a focal point for Auburn en route to a new career-high 26 points. "It felt really good, just being patient inside," Williams said. "That's our game, and we took advantage of it." Broome had his way on the interior against Alabama for the second straight game. With 24 points Wednesday night — including a 9-of-11 clip at the foul line for a player who shot 56.0 percent on free throws last season — now finishes with 59 combined points in two matchups against Alabama this season. Broome also continued to flex his free-throw improvements, making six of his first seven foul shots and finishing. A 2-for-2 trip at the line for Broome seven minutes into the second half gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game to that point, up 70-50. In a game with 61 combined fouls, Broome didn't get whistled for a single one. He also blocked five shots to go with his seven rebounds. "I think the thing with Johni, again, it’s the inside-out deal," Pearl said. "He’s a monster with his back to the basket. He just knows how to use his body. You get it in there behind him, and it’s a bucket or a foul, in a lot of ways. But then he also is such a good passer and likes the ball in his hands." Auburn's size advantage on the interior helped the Tigers win the rebounding battle 42-35, after Pearl said the boards were the main reason they lost in Tuscaloosa. ""I thought we did a better job keeping bodies on bodies, not getting overwhelmed on the offensive glass, not getting beat to as many 50-50 balls," Pearl said. AUBURN WINS SECOND-HALF FOUL FEST Auburn fans certainly had plenty of time to celebrate the win, but it was because of heavy whistle. Alabama entered the bonus with 13:35 left in the game. At the 12:20 mark of the second half, Auburn had six different players with three fouls apiece. A couple minutes later, Auburn joined the Tide in the bonus. The clunky pace of the game seemed to bother the Tigers a bit, as Auburn’s offense went stagnant offensively for a large portion of the second half, starting just 5-of-21 from the floor, and at one point missing 10 straight shots. That dry spell lasted 7:10 without a made shot and allowed Alabama to bring the lead down from what was as large as 20 points to 12. Alabama forward Grant Nelson, a couple minutes after getting into it with Chad Baker-Mazara, fouled out with 6:05 left in the game. The teams combined to shoot a whopping 55 foul shots in the second half. Auburn went 27-of-34 (79 percent), while Alabama went 17-of-21 (81 percent). Auburn’s 40 made free throws (40-of-50) are a new program record. "I know that people are going to look at those stats and go, ‘Man, it was a free-throw-fest,'" Pearl said. "But, I mean, we were reaching a little bit in. We were a little handsy on the perimeter and their guards shot a ton of free throws, right? And then we were pounding the ball inside and they were just climbing all over us — I mean, they were fouling us every time. So I don’t think the officials wanted to call it like that, but I think both teams played hard, played physically." At one point, Auburn missed 10 of 11 field goals, but still mounted an 11-1 run via free throws and extended the Tigers' lead to 21 points with under four minutes left. Part of Auburn’s ability to consistently score despite the shooting struggles was the fact that Auburn turned it over just once in the first half and only five times in the game. Neither team found much success shooting the ball in the second half, but Auburn's ability to limit the Crimson Tide's second-ranked offense was key down the stretch. Alabama made just three 3-pointers after halftime and were 32.3 percent from the floor overall, with six turnovers. Pearl credited Auburn's big men, like Broome and Williams, for being able to switch effectively on the perimeter and keep themselves from being defensive liabilities against smaller, quicker guards. "They’re both very unique because we were able to switch and guard Alabama’s guards with our bigs," Pearl said. "And then our guards did a decent enough job not getting overwhelmed by their athletes when we switched out." *** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more *** *** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***