In the biggest Iron Bowl of Basketball in series history, Alabama needs to do these three things in order to knock off No. 1 Auburn.
The full attention of the college basketball world is transfixed on the Iron Bowl of Basketball featuring a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup for the first time in the history of hoops in the SEC. Tomorrow, the two bitter rivals meet on the hardwood in the biggest litmus test of the season for either team. Both have played an extremely challenging schedule. Neither has played a game that meant as much as this one does.
Along with the bragging rights that come with any win over a rival, the winner on Saturday will have the inside track on the SEC regular season crown. Both the Crimson Tide and Tigers enter the matchup tied for 1st place in the league at 10-1.
It will be a tremendous challenge for Alabama, even inside the friendly confines of Coleman Coliseum, to knock off Auburn. The Tigers have been the best team in college basketball to date, something that was further driven home by the fact that they remained No. 1 in the AP Poll this week despite dropping a game last Saturday at home to Florida.
It will take Alabama’s “A” game to beat Auburn, something we haven’t seen the Tide sustain often for a full 40 minutes. Nate Oats’ team tends to play really good halves of basketball at a time. If that is the first half, they tend to slack off, at least defensively, for the final 20 minutes. That’s what happened in Tuesday night’s win in Austin over Texas. Alabama dominated defensively in the first half and then gave up 49 second-half points to the Longhorns.
It nearly cost Alabama last Saturday against Arkansas. Alabama led by 16 points with six minutes to play and had to hold off a furious Razorback rally to escape Bud Walton with a win.
It will take a full 40-minute effort for Alabama to knock off Auburn on Saturday. The Tigers are too good to succumb to anything other than the Tide’s best shot.
3 keys to an Alabama victory over Auburn
3. Take care of the basketball
Alabama is always going to be a high-turnover team. Oats’ system is designed to play at lightning speed and that tends to result in more turnovers than your average team. But lately, Alabama has really struggled to take care of the ball, even against their own standards.
In SEC play, Alabama is turning it over on 18.7% of its possessions. They had more turnovers than made field goals in the home loss to Ole Miss last month.
Auburn plays an aggressive man-to-man scheme and they force a lot of turnovers in their own right. Alabama tends to not need any help from opponents when it comes to turning the ball over. A high turnover percentage game on Saturday could spell doom for the Tide.
2. Shoot the ball well
It’s probably unrealistic to expect Alabama to shoot the ball as well as it did against Texas on Tuesday. It sure would be nice, though wouldn’t it?
Alabama shot over 60% in the 103-80 win over the Longhorns and knocked down 17-of-29 attempts from three and 18-of-20 from the free throw line. There’s not a team in the country that can beat Alabama when it shoots it that well.
It won’t take a ridiculously hot night for the Crimson Tide to beat the Tigers. But Alabama can’t have a poor shooting night, either.
Alabama has seen a big uptick in three-point shooting in SEC play. They’re shooting 38.4% against conference opponents, good for 2nd in the league. Aden Holloway has been one of the best shooters in the country since SEC play began. He’s hit 50% of his attempts from downtown. Chris Youngblood has hit 41.4% of his attempts. Jarin Stevenson has shot 38% on the season since his 0-of-18 start, including a 4-of-5 game en route to a breakout 22-point performance on Tuesday.
Mark Sears struggled some in non-conference action with his shot, but he’s up to 37.7% against league opponents. The scary thing is that Sears has another level he can reach. He was one of the most efficient players in the country a year ago.
Grant Nelson, Labaron Philon, and even Mo Dioubate have been streaky from behind the arc. If one or two of those guys can knock down a shot or two from deep, that would be a bonus.
Finishing at the rim will be an immense challenge against Auburn’s front line of Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. Alabama will need to hit some threes in order to pull defenders out of the paint.
1. Dominate the offensive glass
Auburn has one of the biggest front lines in the country. Broome is a center starting at forward so they can play Cardwell with him. Interestingly enough, though, Auburn gives up a ton of offensive rebounds in spite of that.
The Tigers rank 14th in the SEC since league play began and allow opponents to rebound 34.2% of their misses. On the other hand, Alabama is one of the best offensive-rebounding teams in the conference. The Crimson Tide ranks 2nd in the league since SEC play began by corraling 37.5% of their misses.
Dioubate and freshman big Aiden Sherrell have been two of the best in the country on the offensive glass in the minutes they get. Sherrell could be an X-factor for the Crimson Tide with his ability to stretch the floor offensively and possessing the length and size to hold up against Broome and/or Cardwell.
Crashing the glass and cleaning up misses will be key if Alabama’s shots are a little off, too. The ability to offensive rebound at a high rate is why Alabama boasts one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball despite shooting just 34.4% from three on the season.
Keeping Auburn off the glass on the other end of the floor will be just as important. The Tigers are good enough without getting a lot of second-chance looks.
