TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Coleman Coliseum has drawn its fair share of criticism in recent years due to its outdated appearance and configuration. Wednesday night, Alabama basketball’s home venue was once again the butt of a few jokes due to a lighting malfunction that delayed the start of the Crimson Tide’s 79-75 win over Auburn.
After switching its lights to red, white and blue for the national anthem, Coleman Coliseum was unable to turn off the red lighting on one side of its court.
That side remained red for 33 seconds after the tipoff — enough time for Auburn’s Johni Broome to hit a game-opening 3 — before officials whistled play dead to fix the lighting. From there, Coleman’s control crew fumbled over lighting for roughly 15 minutes before the brights were turned back on and play resumed.
“We got all the new lights in there,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. “That’s never happened. They didn’t flip over from the red to the regular lights. We were trying to figure out if we could play in the dark. We had to make sure that both ends had the same lighting or it wouldn’t have been fair.
“We were trying to figure all that out and keep the guys warm. That was odd. I’ve never been involved in something like that.”
Following the game Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said the malfunction did not affect his team. However, that didn’t stop him from giving Oats a bit of a hard time.
“I said, ‘Look if you guys want a new facility, just get a new facility. You don’t have to turn the lights off ’” Pearl joked. “Nah, it was just one of those things. It happens.”
Oats followed Pearl’s joke with one of his own, pointing out that Auburn was 1 of 1 from 3 before the lights were fixed before finishing 5 of 25 from deep on the night.
“Maybe they should have requested to keep the lights off,” Oats said with a smile. “Once we turned the lights on, they didn’t shoot as well.”
Oats also noted that Auburn will likely shoot a lot better when the two teams meet again in Auburn on Feb. 7. He said his team will have to play a lot better then if it wants to complete the Iron Bowl sweep.
“They play hard all the time,” Oats said. “That crowd there is going to really get them amped up. We’re going to have to be better at their place than we did tonight for sure.”
