No. 8 Alabama basketball completes season sweep of Auburn

Fresh off of securing its first regular-season title since 2002, No. 8 Alabama basketball reached another milestone with a 70-58 win over Auburn on Tuesday night. The victory marks the Crimson Tide’s first sweep over the Tigers since 2015 as Alabama recorded a 94-90 win at Auburn earlier this season.

Alabama (20-6, 15-2 in the SEC) also reached the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2017-18 season when it finished 20-16 while reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament. The last time Alabama finished the regular season with 20 or more wins came during the 2010-11 campaign when it went 21-11 before the postseason. Auburn (12-14, 6-11) lost for the seventh time in its last nine games.

Following the game, Alabama players and coaches cut down the nets inside of Coleman Coliseum to celebrate winning the SEC regular-season title.

"It was amazing," senior Herbert Jones said. "It kind of just took me back to the days, the tough losses on the road and at home, getting picked to go to the NIT, like all of that was going through my head as I was cutting down the nets. And knowing that we deserved to cut down those nets, the work that we did, all of that was going through my mind."

Second-year Alabama coach Nate Oats is now 3-1 in the in-state rivalry with his only defeat coming in an overtime loss at Auburn last season. Tuesday night’s game was never in doubt.

The Tide never trailed in the game as it took advantage of a sloppy night by the Tigers. Alabama’s defense, which came into the night ranked No. 3 in the nation according to the Ken Pomeroy rankings, forced Auburn into 23 turnovers which led to 24 points on the other end. The Tigers turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, allowing the Tide to build an early lead as it cruised to an easy win in its final home game of the season.

"Our defense has been carrying us for a good month now," Oats said. "I can't say enough about the job our guys are doing, the job Charlie's [Henry] doing with the defense."

After heading into the break with a 37-27 lead, Alabama saw Auburn trim the deficit in half midway through the second period. The Tigers went on a 7-0 run taking advantage of a cold-shooting spell from the Tide before John Petty Jr. stopped the bleeding with a contested 3 to extend Alabama’s lead to 55-47 with 7:34 remaining. From there, the Tide went on a 10-0 run to put the game away.

Playing for the final time in Coleman Coliseum, Jones put in a vintage performance for Alabama. The senior forward recorded 10 points while pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out six assists. He also put in his typically strong defensive shift, contributing to the visitors' frustrating night from the floor.

Petty also provided a nice farewell to the Coleman faithful, recording 11 points and six rebounds while also displaying a nice effort on the defensive end. During one point in the first half the senior guard received a high five from Oats on his way up the floor after he hustled to save a ball from going out of bounds before dishing it to a teammate.

"His effort's been great. I can't say enough about how hard Petty's been playing," Oats said. "I sat down with him eight games ago now. We get these offensive leverage, defensive leverage numbers. We're trying to get him to be the best two-way player maybe in the country. ... I really challenged him on the defensive side. He's got our best defensive leverage over the last eight games. I think he was really good on the defensive side tonight."

Jaden Shackelford led Alabama with 23 points while hitting five 3s. Jahvon Quinerly was also in double figures with 11 points.

Auburn was without star point guard Sharife Cooper, who missed his third straight game with an ankle injury. On Monday, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl described Cooper as doubtful, but that didn’t stop Alabama from preparing for the freshman phenom as Oats predicted that he would be available for Tuesday night’s matchup.

The Tigers could have certainly used Cooper, who averages a team-high 20.2 points and 8.1 assists per game. Instead, Auburn was never able to get out of its own way enough on offense to establish much of a rhythm.

Auburn lost despite holding a 46-34 advantage on the boards. Alabama held a 32-26 edge in points in the paint but ultimately won the game due to its ability to capitalize on Auburn’s miscues, outscoring the Tigers 24-6 in points off of turnovers.

Alabama will wrap up its regular-season slate at Georgia on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. The Tide beat the Bulldogs, 115-82 at home earlier this season.

Before preparing for this weekend's matchup, Oats said he's giving his players a much-deserved break from practice on Wednesday.

"I'm giving them a day off," Oats said following Tuesday's win. "They're going to come see the trainer, get some treatment. Other than that, get out of here, stay away from basketball, rest your mind, your body.

"Even Thursday and Friday I'm not going to kill them. We've got to get the Georgia scout in, but we played them once, we're not going to overdo it. ... I can't take the day off. I've got my schedule packed with a million things. It seems like the more you win, the more they slam on your schedule around here."

Following the games, seniors Alex Reese, Petty and Jones all took a moment to talk about their time at Alabama. Here’s what each had to say about their four years in the program.

Petty: “Our time here at Alabama, I feel like it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever been through in my life. Just with a bunch of things combined, with adversity, laughs, tears, sweat, blood, all that. I couldn’t imagine that nowhere else. Just the way we ended the season, I couldn’t imagine that nowhere else with the guys, the coaching staff and even these fans. So my time here at Alabama has been the bes. I’m sad that it’s ending, but I’ll remember this forever.”

Reese: Really the best thing for me was being able to grow along with these guys. Just seeing how far we’ve all come as a program. One of the biggest things we wanted to do is change the culture, change the program and get that going into a good winning direction. That’s one of the biggest parts that was really special for me, to do that with a bunch of great guys and a bunch of good fans watching us. This time has been great. It’s been some of the best times of my life.

Jones: I’ll go off of what Reese said. Most of us came here, us three Alabama guys, we came here to make Alabama a basketball school, and I feel like we’ve got that going in the right direction. I feel like the journey and the process we’ve been through, I think it taught us patience and just believing in our work. We went through a couple rough years, didn’t make the tournament our second year here and last year we were on the verge of not making the tournament again. And just to see the work we put in in the offseason pay off into the regular season, it’s just been a blessing honestly. Like they said, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with any other guys. It’s just been crazy to see the work. We started working as soon as the season ended, and to see it pay off is just a blessing.”