AUBURN — Looking to complete a season sweep of its in-state rival, No. 1 Auburn invites No. 7 Alabama to Neville Arena on Saturday for the regular-season finale.
With the Tigers having already secured the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Auburn will go for a set of program records with its 16th SEC win, which would be tied for sixth-most in league history, and 28th regular-season win.
“We talk a lot about making history, and for this team, we have to win this last game if we are going to be the winningest team in the regular season in the history of Auburn basketball," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “Obviously, got a chance to sweep Alabama, which is difficult to do, but let alone difficult to do when they're a top five team in the country.”
A familiar foe for the Tigers, having already secured a 94-85 victory at Coleman Coliseum on February 15, the Crimson Tide enter this one having lost four of their last six, including two straight.
Alabama continues to boast the best scoring offense in the country averaging 91.1 points per game. The Crimson Tide also lead the nation with 16 90-point games and have reached the 100-point mark eight times this season.
The second-leading scorer in the SEC with 19.5 points per game, Mark Sears remains the catalyst for the Crimson Tide offensively. He is also second in the league with five assists per contest and leads an offense that ranks 13th nationally with 10.5 3-pointers per game and seventh with 29.9 3-point attempts per contest.
“Just a great player. He's a great winner, one of the best competitors I've ever gone against. His ability to score tough twos around the basket. His ability to play make, to shoot with unbelievable range. He gets to the foul line a lot. So obviously he's just a great, great player.”
Five other scorers join Sears in double digits: Grant Nelson (11.7 ppg), Aden Holloway (11.7 ppg), Latrell Wrightsell (11.5 ppg), Labaron Philon (10.7 ppg) and Chris Youngblood (10 ppg).
After getting punched in the mouth on the offensive glass in the loss to Texas A&M on Tuesday, Auburn will look to improve in that area on Saturday as the Crimson Tide have the best rebounding team in the nation, hauling 43.4 boards per game with 13.2 of them coming on the offensive glass. Additionally, Alabama ranks third in the country shooting 59.8 percent from 2-point range.
“Alabama is one of the top two point field goal shooting teams in the country because they do a great job of getting downhill and they actually finish at a much higher rate than Texas A&M. So they're even harder to guard than Texas A&M is – and shoot better percentages from two, requiring more rotation, exposing your backside rebounding even more. So there is a schematic challenge.”
The status of Denver Jones is still up in the air after missing the Tigers’ last game with a “soft-tissue” ankle injury.
“We'll practice this afternoon and my anticipation is that he'll be able to go through practice and then, let's see after practice how he reacts to the load,” Pearl said of Jones on Friday.
Auburn will honor its seniors before Saturday's game. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m., and ESPN will carry the broadcast.
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