Rylan Griffen, Jaden Bradley 'huge' in Alabama's win over Auburn

Nobody would have said Jaden Bradley and Rylan Griffen when asked who would lead No. 3 Alabama to victory over Auburn.

The obvious answer is Brandon Miller or Mark Sears who lead the team in scoring, not two freshmen who began the season coming off the bench.

However, when the game was on the line, the ball found the hands of No. 0 and No. 3 who combined for 19 of Alabama's 40 second-half points in its 77-69 win over Auburn on Saturday.

"I thought we had different guys step up," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "I thought some of our younger guys — Jaden Bradley played well tonight. Rylan Griffen was huge hit some big shots, hit some free throws when we needed him to. I thought our guys showed some resilience to weather a bad shooting night by Brandon (Miller) and had some other guys step up."

With Auburn's defense focused on not letting Miller impact the game, Alabama needed another option in the second half.

Enter Bradley who scored six of Alabama's first nine points to start the final 20 minutes of play. The baskets weren't just open mid-range jump shots or 3-pointers, Bradley sought after paint touches and scored basket-after-basket surrounded by Auburn's big men.

While the layups were impressive, they were imperative if Alabama was going to stay in the game as Auburn went to the free-throw line seven times in the first four minutes of the second half, converting on six attempts. Bradley's 12 points is his 10th game where he's scored 10 points or more this season and is his first double-digit game since Alabama's road win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 17.

"(He) was big," Mark Sears said. "It put a lot of pressure on the rim and then got to the free-throw line and then they weren't as aggressive when they were guarding him."

Griffen added: "He was huge. Every time Auburn went on a little bit of a run, he came downhill, got fouled, or got the layup. He was big time today."

When Auburn adjusted and began shutting down Bradley's drives to the basket, it left Griffen wide open from behind the arc.

The freshman went 3-for-4 from deep to finish with a career-high 16 points in the win. Saturday's performance makes it four games in his last five where Griffen's tallied 12 points or more.

While all of Griffen's baskets were crucial, none were bigger than his 3-pointer with less than six minutes to go in the game. Griffen blocked a 3-pointer on Auburn's leading scorer Wendell Green Jr. which sent Alabama on a fast break up the floor. After trailing the play, the Dallas, Texas native found himself open from behind the arc and converted, giving Alabama a four-point lead.

"Rylan was huge. We don't win this game without Rylan," Oats said. "I really feel like he did his best job defensively on Green. ... We've been on our guys to make tough plays. We're gonna have to make them on the road. I thought our guys stepped up and made some tough plays."

Sears agreed when asked about Griffen's performance and alluded that the freshman showed what Alabama's greatest strength is — depth.

"Everybody can go on this team," Sears said. "It doesn't matter if you're a starter or not, everybody is as good as a starter on this team."