Alabama basketball exorcised a past demon while also getting a glimpse of its future as it remained unbeaten in SEC play with a 94-90 victory at Auburn on Saturday.
The victory snapped a five-game road losing streak to the Tigers as the Tide won inside Auburn Arena for the first time since 2015. Alabama (9-3, 4-0 in the SEC) also extended its winning streak to five games, the longest winning run it has experienced in Nate Oats’ two years as head coach. Auburn moved to 6-6 and 0-4 in conference play.
Freshman Joshua Primo scored a career-high 22 points, pacing the Tide as it failed to find its shooting touch early.
After leading by as many as 10 points in the first half, Alabama allowed Auburn to come storming back. Trailing 58-57 in the second half, the Tide made five straight shots, culminating with a 3 from Jordan Bruner to go up 77-72 with 8:09 to play. Alabama extended its advantage to 82-74 before Auburn used a 10-0 run to take an 84-82 lead with 4:43 remaining.
With Alabama clinging to a one-point lead, Bruner secured an offensive rebound before delivering a put-back layup to give the Tide a 93-90 lead with a minute to play. Following a turnover by Herbert Jones, Auburn had a chance to tie on the break. However, a 3-point attempt from freshman Sharife Cooper with 28 seconds remaining was well off the mark, allowing the Tide to extend its lead on the line.
Bruner finished with a season-high 20 points while recording seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. Herbert Jones also had a big day for Alabama, tallying 19 points and eight rebounds.
Five-star freshman Sharife Cooper made his debut for Auburn, leading the Tigers with 26 points and nine assists. Allen Flannigan scored 19 points and pulled in eight rebounds while JT Thor had 15 points and a team-high nine boards.
Auburn and Alabama entered the day leading the SEC in 3-point attempts. Saturday, both teams struggled from beyond the arc as the Tide shot 10 of 32 (31 percent) while the Tigers were 8 of 27 (30 percent).
However, there were plenty of old-fashioned 3s as both teams excelled from the free-throw line. Alabama made 24 of 29 free-throw attempts while Auburn shot 24 of 28 from the stripe.
Alabama will remain on the road for its next matchup as it travels to Kentucky on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT.
Primo’s fast start
The future is bright for Alabama and Auburn as Cooper and Primo both put their talents on display Saturday.
Primo provided nearly all of Alabama’s offense early on as Alabama started the game 5 of 19 from the floor. All five of those shots came from the Canadian guard who hit four 3s in the game’s opening six minutes.
Heading into the day, Primo’s career-high was 15 points during the game against Providence last month. He nearly reached that in less than 10 minutes Saturday as he scored his 14th point on a layup to extend Alabama’s lead to 16-12 with 11:19 to play in the half.
“Honestly, it just came from my coaches and my teammates,” Primo said of his hot start. “They had the utmost confidence in me to just shoot the ball whenever I’m open. My teammates found me, and I just ended up being open the first couple of times. It just started going down and we started getting more energy.”
Primo went on a cold spell later in the half, missing two layups while turning the ball over twice as Auburn got back into the game. He missed his last seven shots from the floor, including all five after the break but still chipped in eight second-half points from the line. On the day, the freshman shot 5 of 17, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Jones and Bruner put on their hard hats
While Primo stuffed the stat sheet early, Jones and Bruner served as the glue that helped keep Alabama going throughout the game. Jones had had a team-high five blocks and two steals while posting a plus-minutes of 19 over his 34 minutes on the court. Meanwhile, Bruner had three steals and a block while posting a plus-minus of 9 over 27 minutes.
According to Oats, Jones earned the team’s hard-hat award with Bruner narrowly behind. The defense from those two played a vital role in forcing 20 Auburn turnovers on the night. Those led to 21 points for the Tide on the other end.
Petty’s “game-winning" putback
With 3:14 remaining, Alabama guard John Petty Jr. followed up a blocked layup attempt from Primo with a putback to tie the game at 87. Following the game, Oats gushed over the senior’s hustle, calling the basket a “game-winning play.”
Petty got into trouble midway through the second half and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds over 30 minutes. While the senior shot just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc, Oats credited him for affecting the game in other ways.
“I’m so happy for Petty because he’s making all those winning plays,” Oats said. “Some of those steals, those stops late in the game were him. At halftime, he said ‘Put me on Cooper, I want the matchup. He got the offensive putback late in the game. He was the only guy that crashed on our team.”
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