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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball’s lopsided loss to Auburn earlier this season damaged its pride. Tuesday’s night’s defeat to the Tigers delivered an added blow to the Crimson Tide’s NCAA Tournament resume. Leading by as many as 13-points, Alabama melted in the second half, allowing Auburn to leave Coleman Coliseum with a 66-60 victory.
The loss served as a missed opportunity for Alabama (17-13, 8-9 in the SEC) as it could have secured its third Quadrant 1 win of the season. Instead, the Crimson Tide moved to 2-9 in Quadrant 1 games. Meanwhile, Auburn (21-9, 10-7) secured a season sweep over Alabama after beating the Crimson Tide 84-63 in Auburn last month.
“I’m very, very disappointed,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “But I’m not disappointed to the point where we’re not going to get back to work tomorrow, have a good practice on Thursday. I know we let a lot of people down tonight. I feel bad, but we just got to get back to work.”
Leading Auburn 43-31 with 14:58 remaining, Alabama allowed the Tigers to go on an 18-2 run over the next six minutes. During that span, the Crimson Tide committed six turnovers, reverting back to the careless ways that plagued the team a month ago.
“It was tough,” Johnson said. “We were just bad at both ends of the floor.”
After turning the ball over a season-high 21 times during its previous game against Auburn, Alabama gave it up 19 times Tuesday night. That included two turnovers in the final minute to allow Auburn to put the game away. The Crimson Tide lost despite outshooting the Tigers 45 percent to 40 percent from the floor as Auburn scored 28 points off of turnovers.
“It’s hard for us to get our defense set when we’re turning the ball over like that,” Johnson said. “They didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half and had 14 attempts in the second half. Give them credit, they did a nice job of going on the road, getting the win. We just didn’t have a great second half. It’s been that way a lot this season.”
Alabama’s poor second-half performance overshadowed a strong start. The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 19-9 lead after a 3-point basket by Kira Lewis Jr. brought the home crowd to its feet. A layup from Riley Norris with five seconds remaining in the half gave Alabama a 34-23 advantage at the break.
Lewis led Alabama with 13 points and was joined in double figures by Herbert Jones (11) and Tevin Mack (10). John Petty Jr. had 8 points and nine rebounds on the night.
Auburn was led by Chuma Okeke, who had a double-double with a game-high 17 points and 14 rebounds. Jared Harper was also in double figures with 16 points for the Tigers.
Alabama’s football team was honored at halftime as head coach Nick Saban and several players were on hand to accept the Iron Bowl trophy after defeating Auburn 52-21 last season.
Next up
Alabama will wrap up its regular-season schedule with a trip to Arkansas (15-14, 6-10) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network. Arkansas won last year’s meeting between the two teams, beating Alabama 76-73 in Tuscaloosa.
The Razorbacks are led by 6-foot-11 forward Daniel Gafford who entered Tuesday leading the SEC with 8.7 rebounds per game and fourth in the conference with 16.5 points per game. Arkansas also features a pair of talented guards in freshman Isaiah Joe (14.1 ppg) and sophomore Mason Jones (14.0 ppg).
The first round SEC Tournament begins Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. With South Carolina’s 71-54 victory over Texas A&M earlier Tuesday night, Alabama can finish no lower than No. 10 in the conference.
