The Auburn Tigers ended the college basketball regular season with a heartbreaking 93-91 overtime loss to Alabama on Saturday. They close the season on a two-game losing streak heading into the SEC Tournament. Head coach Bruce Pearl spoke to the media following the game. Alabama entered the game ranked eighth in the nation, and the game had to feel of a tournament game. Pearl noted, "Obviously, those are two teams that are capable of getting to the Final Four. Both teams stepped up in a lot of ways and played great basketball."
National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome played perhaps his best game of the season. Pearl gave his best player praise and talked about why he is the best in the country. "I thought Johni Broome demonstrated to the country why he is the national player of the year, or should be in my opinion. As I explained to Johni after the game, that is what I expect from him. It was great to see him step up. I just need him to step up and continue to step up. I know it was great to see him do that and be capable of that." Broome went 15 of 28 to score 34 points and had the three-point shot to tie the game in overtime before Mark Sears hit the game winner.
The Tigers played well offensively on Saturday. They shot 48% and connected on ten three-pointers. The problem was defense with Alabama shooting 52% and 52 points in the paint. Pearl said, "As a team, I thought we had too many defensive breakdowns and too many things that we talked about trying to do that we did not do that we weren't locked into and as a result, they had some better looks at the rim, they got downhill and they got the offensive rebounding."
Pearl continued, "It was very similar to what Texas A&M did but obviously Alabama shoots it better. They turned corners, got downhill, could come over miss a shot and get the backside rebound tip dunk. Not putting bodies on those guys and then giving those guys 18 second chance points, that is a lot." Alabama outrebounded Auburn 41-33.
Auburn will now have a chance to regroup after closing the regular season on a losing streak. They will return to the court on Friday at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tigers will play at noon CT on ESPN against an opponent to be determined.
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