No. 7 Alabama spoiled No. 1 Auburn’s senior night with a 93-91 overtime win on Saturday.
With Auburn already locking up the SEC regular season title, there wasn’t much on the line in the season finale except pride. Much like the previous matchup in Tuscaloosa, the game's atmosphere felt like these two teams were playing for a championship.
Mark Sears was held quiet in regulation, but a floater at the buzzer quickly erased what was a disappointing game for the Crimson Tide’s leading scorer.
Here are a few takeaways from the game.
Big Game From Nelson
Last season, Grant Nelson got hot around this time and helped carry the Crimson Tide to a Final Four. This afternoon, glimpses of that version of Nelson came out. Nelson set the tone for Alabama after finally finding his three-point stroke. His three made three pointers were a nice touch for the Alabama offense, but his biggest moment in the game was on a high-flying dunk attempt in which he slammed it home in an Auburn defender's face while drawing the foul. Nelson finished with a team 23 points and eight rebounds.
Paint Presence
Alabama is often labeled as a three-point shooting team, and they wouldn’t be wrong, as Nate Oats wants his team to take a lot of threes. Down the stretch, opponents have taken the three-pointer away from the Crimson Tide and forced tough twos. Auburn did the same on Saturday, and Alabama responded with 52 points in the paint while outrebounding Auburn 41-33.
Sears Shows Up When It Counts
What started off as a quiet afternoon for Mark Sears turned into fireworks at the end of the game. The stingy Auburn defense held Sears to just nine points, but his last two were the ones that counted. As time expired in overtime, Sears drove in the lane and sank a floater to give the Crimson Tide the victory.
Big Men Step Up
Alabama’s frontcourt had a tough task against a Johni Broome-led Auburn team. The Crimson Tide struggled guarding Broome, but who hasn’t this year? Broome got his points, but everyone else was kept in check in the paint. Clifford Omoruyi had one of his best offensive games of the season scoring 15 points and not missing a single shot or free throw. Omoruyi also pulled down eight rebounds. Aiden Sherrell put in some quality minutes filling in for Omoruyi when he had to take a seat because of foul trouble. Sherrell took advantage of his 16 minutes and produced eight points and seven rebounds.
Alabama will play its first game in the SEC Tournament as the No. 3 seed on Friday, March 14, 25 minutes after the conclusion of the 6 p.m. game. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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