Alabama basketball stumbles down the stretch in loss to Auburn

AUBURN - Alabama basketball coach Avery Johnson shouldn't need any more game film to show his University of Alabama men's basketball team this season.

The final 10 minutes of the Auburn game should suffice.

The Crimson Tide collapsed on both ends of the court down the stretch on Saturday, falling to Auburn 84-64 in a game that the Crimson Tide led by a point with just over nine minutes to play.

"I'm concerned with our second-half effort," Johnson said. "It was lethargic. I'm concerned with why we didn't defend. I'm concerned with our turnovers on the interior. I'm concerned with why we were having to throw up off-balance 3-pointers just to try and stay in the game."

Alabama (11-7, 4-2 SEC) took its last lead of the game on a Donta Hall dunk with 9:38 to play, but the signs were ominous even at that point as AU struggled to guard the Tigers' freshman center, Austin Wiley. The mid-term entry had his best game since arriving at Auburn, scoring 19 points - 15 in the second half - and grabbing nine rebounds.

"We couldn't handle big Wiley," Johnson said. "They kept throwing it inside and our double teams were slow getting there."

Auburn took the lead for good on a pair of Wiley free throws with 9:15 remaining, two of the 42 free throws that the Tigers shot for the game. (AU made 28).

"It's hard to win a game when they get to the foul line 42 times and we get there 19 times," Johnson said. "Now let me fix your headline for you. That had absolutely nothing to do with the officiating. It had to do with us not playing aggressively enough on the offensive end."

Once it took the lead, Auburn extended it remarkably, scoring 33 of its 54 second-half points in that final 9:15 of the game. The Tigers - who made 8 of 13 3-pointers in the game - were 4 of 5 from beyond the arc in the last eight minutes. In addition to Wiley's 19 points, AU (13-6, 3-4 SEC) got 17 points from grad transfer Ronnie Johnson off the bench and 15 from freshman Mustapha Heron.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who celebrated after the game by ripping off his jacket and beating his chest while leading the Auburn student section in cheers, said the atmosphere was "amazing."

"This is the kind of atmosphere we want for the 'Iron Bowl' of basketball," Pearl said.

Alabama was led offensively by freshman Braxton Key with 18 points. The Crimson Tide will continue its two-game SEC road swing at Georgia on Wednesday.

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.

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