AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn is gearing up for a guard-oriented and erratic but dangerous Alabama basketball team as coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers look to sweep their regular-season streak against the tide. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CST at Auburn Arena with television coverage on ESPN.
The Tide have wins over former Gonzaga and Baylor, a pair of teams that have been ranked No. 1 this season. Alabama is also the only SEC team to lose to the Georgia Bulldogs this season.
Alabama will bring an overall record of 14-7 into the contest. The Tide is 4-4 in the league and 1-4 in road games.
“I would say Alabama and Kentucky are the two best teams we’ve played so far,” Pearl said. “LSU being there too.”
The Tide averages 81.4 points per game led by junior Jaden Shackelford, a 6-3, 200 junior guard who is averaging 17.2 points and 5.9 rebounds. He leads the Tide in three-pointers with 64 and is shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three. In an 81-77 loss to the Tigers on January 11, he finished with 13 points and scored just 4-14 field goals.
“Alabama is just terrific offensively – really tough coverage,” Pearl said. “Coach (Nate) Oates is doing a great job getting these guys into spaces and they’re struggling to stay in front. Their spacing is really good. They’re shooting three inside, three outside and throws It’s going to be a big challenge for us. We played really, really well there last time.
Leading Alabama in scoring in their loss to Auburn was Jahvon Quinerly, a 6-1, 175 junior guard, who scored 14 points on a night he scored 4-19 field goals.
The Tide’s third player with a double-digit average is 6-6, 175 senior guard Keon Ellis, who is averaging 12.1 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds. He scored 10 points against the Tigers at Coleman Coliseum.
“We were very lucky in our game that Quinerly and Shackelford didn’t necessarily come out,” Pearl said. “These guys are two of the best goalies in the country.
“Baylor (the team that Alabama beat Saturday 87-78) has very good defensive guards,” Pearl said. “Baylor was No. 10 in the nation in defense … but Alabama’s offense was better than Baylor’s defense to put them 87. That’s really hard to do. Forty-two points in the key for Alabama. Shot 59% against the 10th-best defense in the nation.
In the previous Tigers vs. Tide game, Auburn’s freshman Jabari Smith scored his season-high 25 points against the Tide while Wendell Green scored 19 points. KD Johnson scored 13 and Allen Flanigan added 10 points, including hitting key free throws late in the game to secure the win.
“Jabari Smith was just amazing at Coleman Coliseum,” Pearl said. “Wendell Green had some really special moments and some really big games.
Alabama shoots 45.3 percent from the field, 31.0 percent from three-point range (average 9.1 shots per game), and hits 71.5 percent of its free throws. He’s allowing 74.9 points per game and opponents are shooting 43.4% from the field and 31.9% from three.
Alabama outscores opponents in rebounds by 4.3 per game and returns the ball more than 13.7 times per game compared to 13.3 for opponents.
Auburn is shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three and 73.5 percent from the foul line. The Tigers have a plus 4.2 rebound margin and allow opponents to make just 39.1% of their field goals and 31.4% of their three-point shots.
Auburn averages 11.4 turnovers per contest and in strength 15.6.
Smith leads the Tigers with 15.6 points per game, followed by Johnson (13.2), Green (12.1) and Walker Kesler (11.3), which leads the Tigers in rebounds at 7.7 and the SEC in blocks at 4.05 per outing.
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