In what might have been Alabama basketball’s most anticipated regular season game of all-time, the team took a stumble and lost 94-85 to Auburn, breaking the Crimson Tide’s seven-game winning streak.
There were plenty of key matchups in this rivalry game, with the two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country. Here are the three biggest matchups that defined the game.
Johni Broome vs Grant Nelson/Clifford Omoruyi
Head coach Nate Oats made it clear during his pregame press conference on Friday that the team had no plans of doubling Auburn’s star forward, and instead stressed the importance of players like Nelson and Omoruyi stepping up one-on-one.
As it turns out, players as good as Broome are usually double-teamed for a reason. He had a game-high 19 points, shot 2/4 from 3, dished out a team-high six assists, grabbed 14 rebounds and seemingly was able to do whatever he wanted with the basketball.
Omoruyi started out on Broome and struggled heavily, which resulted in his being benched early. Throughout the game, Nelson and Omoruyi took turns on Broome, but neither of them had answers for the Auburn star.
The only player who seemed to have relative success on Broome was Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate, who did a good job of playing Broome physically. Ultimately, Broome played a large part in the Tigers’ win and had the last laugh.
“We didn’t do anything too terribly fancy. We just gave him the ball, and they don’t double,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said.
Mark Sears vs Denver Jones
It seems that the Alabama offense is truly at its best when its star guard is also playing at his peak. But in this Iron Bowl of Basketball matchup, Sears struggled.
He shot only 4/17 from the field and a poor 2/11 from 3-point range, and he played a part in Alabama’s team-wide struggles from downtown. Jones did a stellar job of chasing Sears anywhere he went and playing physically with him, preventing the Crimson Tide guard from getting open by any means necessary.
Jones also scored 16 points for the Tigers and went 3/5 from downtown, but the story of the game was his defensive play against Sears. He even swatted one of his 3-point shots away.
“We call them seals, guys you can go after. He was definitely not one of those on their team,” Oats said. “I’m sure they wanted him on Sears, and Sears shoots 4-of-17 tonight. I’m guessing Jones had a big part to do with that. “
Aden Holloway vs his former team
A big storyline heading into this game was how the guard who transferred from Auburn would play in his first matchup against the team he played for last season. Auburn knows how he operates offensively, and it certainly seemed like that helped the Tigers.
Holloway finished the game with 10 points on 3/8 shooting from the field and only 1/4 from downtown. He pressed too much at times, had a few bobbles with the ball in hand and made poor decisions at times with the basketball.
At times, it boiled over into frustration. After he missed a layup at the rim, he went on defense and committed a rather careless foul on an Auburn player taking a 3-point shot. Holloway had four fouls in the game, two turnovers and only one assist.
Holloway will have another shot for a revenge-type game against his former team, playing at Auburn on March 8 in what most people agree is a game Holloway will want to step up for.
“I think it’ll be a much bigger deal on March 8 than it is in Coleman,” ESPN analyst Rece Davis said. “When he goes back and plays in Neville Arena, he’s gonna hear it. And that’s part of the rivalry.”
Alabama will return to the road, playing Wednesday against Missouri at 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
