For all the poetic ways he could have described his team’s impending clash with Auburn, Alabama coach Nate Oats kept it simple.
“This could be the best game in all of college basketball all year,” he told CBS Sports.
Don’t believe him?
Saturday’s contest in Tuscaloosa, Ala., will mark college basketball’s first regular-season No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in more than three years and the first such occasion between two Southeastern Conference schools.
The top-ranked Tigers (22-2, 10-1 SEC) and the No. 2 Crimson Tide (21-3, 10-1) run two of the game’s top offenses, and each team has flourished within a conference that is widely regarded as the strongest in the nation.
It isn’t far-fetched to envision these rivals facing off in early April, and the buildup for this historic matchup has generated plenty of excitement that should make Saturday’s affair feel like a Final Four battle.
“To maybe have the best basketball conference possibly ever, at some point you’d hope the two best teams in the poll end up in the SEC and at that time end up playing each other,” Oats told CBS Sports. “Now, on top of it all, they happen to be from the same state and are big rivals.”
While this will be the first 1-vs.-2 matchup for Oats, who started at Alabama in 2019, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has been here before. The former Tennessee head man guided his second-ranked Volunteers to a four-point win over No. 1 Memphis back on Feb. 23, 2008.
The Tigers have split 20 regular-season games against the Crimson Tide since Pearl arrived in 2014. Pearl has gone 4-6 against Oats, but the longtime SEC coach knows Saturday’s contest is for more than just bragging rights.
“Alabama was my rival the minute I put the Auburn jacket on,” said Pearl, per CBS Sports. “But now it has national implications instead of just pride of the state. … It’s never been this.”
Their respective squads have had little trouble putting up points this season.
Alabama paces the country with 90.5 points per game entering Thursday, while Auburn’s 84.8 scoring average is tied for eighth in Division I.
The teams also boast the two highest offensive ratings per KenPom.com, with the Tigers (131 points per 100 possessions) slightly more efficient than the Crimson Tide (127.2 per 100).
Both offenses feature a host of capable scorers led by a top-20 candidate for the Wooden Award.
Auburn forward Johni Broome tallies 18.1 points per game to pace six Tigers who average double figures, while Alabama guard Mark Sears nets 17.8 per contest ahead of four others who also contribute 10-plus points.
Chaney Johnson (10.2 ppg) has sparked Auburn off the bench over the Tigers’ last three games, averaging 15.3 points on 76 percent shooting. The forward made 9 of 10 field-goal attempts and finished with 20 points in Tuesday’s 80-68 win at Vanderbilt.
“He’s powerful, quick, explosive and has a really good touch,” Pearl said of Johnson. “… Chaney can really shoot it. I’ve got to do a better job of getting him some looks on the outside, which will help open up his game even more.”
The Crimson Tide got a career-high 22 points from sophomore Jarin Stevenson (5.5 ppg) Tuesday night in their 103-80 road rout of Texas. Sears added 18 points, as did former Auburn guard Aden Holloway (11.8 ppg) for Alabama in its seventh straight win.
Auburn has a more recent loss, a 90-81 setback to then-No. 6 Florida last Saturday. But when asked Tuesday whether the Crimson Tide are the best team in the country, Oats seemed content on waiting a few more days to give a definite answer.
“We’ll see Saturday,” he said.
–Field Level Media
