The Stretch 4: For Auburn vs. Alabama, styles make rivalry fights
The Tigers got a break they needed before playing their trigger-happy rivals. Here's what you need to know about this Saturday showdown.
AUBURN — Since a road loss to Tennessee last Saturday, Auburn has spent an entire week as a basketball team hearing about how it settled for too many 3-pointers.
Now it’s about to play the team that shoots more of them than anyone in the sport.
Auburn and Alabama will face off for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon. Both teams are 5-4 in SEC play. They’re No. 1 and No. 2 in the country in strength of schedule. They both took losses to Arizona and Purdue but also beat St. John’s.
There have been some differences, though. Alabama didn’t have to play Michigan in Vegas like Auburn did. Auburn lost its home game to Texas A&M but beat Texas there, which is the opposite of Alabama. And, while Alabama took a lopsided loss at Florida, Auburn went down to Gainesville and got a historic upset win.
Around a year ago at this time, these two programs were meeting as the top two teams in the country. On Saturday, neither one will be ranked, yet that isn’t going to diminish anything about the stakes.
“From 2018 until last year, there’s been nine SEC championships between the two programs,” Pearl said. “That, in itself, has elevated this rivalry to the best one in our conference in that time. … And I know Nate’s done a phenomenal job in his time, but now it’s my job to try and keep it in that area.”
Even without the rankings-based hype, this head-to-head showdown is a big-time separator. This game will mean a lot for both teams in the SEC standings, their respective NCAA Tournament resumes and — of course — rivalry bragging rights.
There’s a reason students have been camping out for this game for days.
“We always talk about wanting to do things for our fans,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said Thursday. “If you want to make our fans happy, beat Alabama.”
Auburn vs. Alabama will be the ultimate matchup of reinvention vs. establishment.
In Pearl’s first season as a head coach, the Tigers have had to find ways to grind out quality wins with a roster that only returned one player. Auburn is crashing the offensive glass and getting to the free-throw line even more than usual while fighting to get results defensively without its usual level of shot-blocking rim protection.
In Nate Oats’ seventh season at Alabama, the Crimson Tide have tripled down on his lightning-fast system. Alabama is attempting more 3-pointers than 2-pointers for the first time under Oats, leaning on a group of experienced guards to overcome any issues on both ends of the floor with a whole lot of shotmaking.
And Auburn is aware of the dangers — and temptations — of playing a team like that.
“We know Alabama has a very distinct style of play,” forward Sebastian Williams-Adams said. “I think we all, as a team, have come to the conclusion that we shouldn’t be shooting more 3s than our free throws and things like that. We have been doing well playing the style of basketball against Florida. We’ve suffered some big losses playing the way we played against Tennessee.
“Knowing that Alabama is gonna want a high-tempo game, gonna want a bunch of 3s going up, our team is just focusing on what makes this Auburn basketball team click.”
For a full breakdown of what to expect from the Tigers and the Tide on Saturday afternoon inside Neville Arena, here is the latest edition of The Stretch 4 preview.
Defending the trigger-happiest guards in the country
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