2/28/23 Auburn Basketball Articles

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Edited March 1, 2023 by aubiefifty

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Big challenge week offers big opportunity for AU basketball, Pearl says

Mark Murphy

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Bruce Pearl is telling his Tigers that playing the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in college basketball, according to the NCAA Net ratings, can be a good thing for his slumping Auburn team. The coach says that a win on Wednesday vs. the No. 2 rated  Tide, or one on Saturday vs. the  No. 3 rated Vols, should put Auburn into the NCAA Tournament in addition to helping AU’s seeding for next week’s SEC Tournament.

Alabama, which is 25-4 overall and 15-1 in the SEC, can clinch the regular season title with a win over the Tigers. The Tide has a two-game lead over second-place Texas A&M, the team it plays to close the regular season.

Auburn, which is 9-7 in the league and 19-10 overall, needs a win at Tuscaloosa or at home Saturday vs. Tennessee to finish the regular season with a winning record in the conference. The Tigers are No. 36 in the net rankings.

Tipoff for Wednesday’s matchup in Tuscaloosa is set for 6 p.m. CST at Coleman Coliseum and the game will be televised on ESPN2. Alabama defeated the Tigers 77-69 at Neville Arena earlier this month in a game the Tigers led for much of the contest.

“I am going to go through the scenario today of what winning two means, what winning one means, what losing two means,” Pearl said about what he will discuss with his players about playing the Tide and Vols.

“Just always put it out there so the guys understand. You never want to look back and have them be in any sort of a doubt, and then look forward to the SEC Tournament.

“We have an idea of who we could play in the first game, one way or the other. Typically, the first game, it's not going to be an opponent that could put you in. (the NCAA Tournament), but it's definitely an opponent that could put you out so we have a chance to play two opponents that could get us in, right here, right now.

“Go into the SEC Tournament, lose and you're done, but win, and you may not still be in,” he said of the scenario for his team with two losses this week. “You can't win yourself in, maybe, with that first-round opponent  so all you can do is lay the cards out, which then I go back to, man, the body of work.”

Pearl said the non-conference schedule is one of the reasons his team can get into the NCAA Tournament even though the Tigers already have 10 losses.

“For example, Colgate won their league,” he said of a team the Tigers handled. “That matters. The win over Saint Louis, even though they have not had a great year, that was a great, great win for us. Beating Northwestern, who was a Quad 1 win in holding them to 42 points, was significant. Bradley won their league.

“The formula we have always had of trying to play really good non-conference teams, who have a chance to compete in their leagues, that stuff has always really helped us. It seems like it was a long time ago, but it really isn't.

Johni Broome (right) leads the Tigers in scoring and rebounding. (Photo: Jeff Gray, USA TODAY Sports)

“Then the decision to be the only Power Five school to play three, true, non-conference road games against other Power Five schools–we only won one of them at Washington, but all that stuff helped our strength of schedule. You would hate for it to be a situation where we just couldn't beat the best teams on our schedule. That's what it's boiled down to so far. We just haven't been able to beat the best teams on our schedule yet.

7COMMENTS

“Arkansas would certainly be one that you would look at and say that's been one of our better ones.They were ranked, what, 13th at the time? Certainly the Mississippi State win, the Missouri win, those wins in the league look like teams that have a chance to make the tournament. So, wins against the field, we just need another one. “

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Auburn at Alabama Prediction, College Basketball Game Preview

By Pete Fiutak | February 28, 2023 5:11 pm CT

~3 minutes

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Auburn at Alabama prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Wednesday, March 1

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Auburn at Alabama How To Watch

Date: Wednesday, March 1
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Venue: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, AL
How To Watch: ESPN2
Record: Auburn (19-10), Alabama (25-4)
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Auburn vs Alabama Game Preview

Why Auburn Will Win

Auburn will get on the move and it’ll guard hard from three.

It wasn’t able to stop anything Kentucky wanted to do inside in a blowout loss, but when the defense is working and the offense is able to get on the move, the team is dangerous.

Alabama dominates on runs. Once the offense gets on the move and starts getting into a groove, forget it.

Auburn has the ability to force Bama to keep going inside, it’s good at cleaning up on the boards and keep this from getting out of hand early – like it did in the first meeting in a 77-69 loss – and it’ll ramp up the defensive intensity.

Auburn is a near-lock when keeping teams under 45% from the field, Alabama averages 45% shooting, and …

Why Alabama Will Win

Alabama doesn’t lose at home.

It’s not like it’s through the storm as a program, but it got through two nasty games against South Carolina and Arkansas, all four losses were away from Coleman.

Auburn’s problem isn’t the defense – it’s doing okay – it’s the lack of pop to keep up the pace when the games get rolling.

It lost seven of the last ten games mostly because the shooting from the outside hasn’t consistently been there, and the fast break points aren’t making up for it.

To be totally simplistic about it …

What’s Going To Happen

Auburn won’t be able to score enough.

It’s Alabama vs Auburn, so both sides will play at another level from the start, the defenses will be great, and it’ll all come down to one big Bama explosion to pull away.

Auburn vs Alabama Prediction, Line

Alabama 84, Auburn 69
Line: Alabama -9, o/u: 151.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
Must See Ranking: 3.5
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