What positives can be taken away from the game the day after the 79-75 loss?
Turnovers. That spelled doom for Auburn in the first half of this game and made the comeback effort a mountain out of a mole hill. Auburn had 11 turnovers in this game, a stat that is incredibly surprising considering the efficiency of the Pearl’s offense this season. Majority of them came in the first half and led to a 14 point deficit at the half.
Alabama on the other hand had 14 turnovers but they were able to make up for it with elite shooting in the first half. Guard Rylan Griffin lit it up from beyond the arc, shooting 50% from deep and finished with 17 points on the night. It should be noted the Tide are 7-1 when Griffin has at least 10 points.
As for Auburn they lackluster first half lost them the game without question. The Tigers outplayed the Tide in every aspect in the second half other than simply making free throws, if they aren’t down fourteen coming out of the half they win the game. Granted Chad Baker Mazara missed a pivotal game tying free throw with 12 seconds left but he shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Johni Broome was very impressive last night, while he did foul out, he ended his night with 25 points and 14 rebounds. The same cannot be said for Aden Holloway unfortunately, who finished with two free throws and 0/7 shooting from the field. He’s hit a bit of a cold spell in conference play and the road environment seemingly rattled him, the stark contrast of experience between him and Johni hopefully shrunk after this experience.
The performance that eventually showed up in Coleman was great to see for this team. Battling back in a hostile environment is always a plus especially when you do it without a perimeter offense (Auburn went 5/20 on the night). The loss is a tough one but necessary for this team to experience in order to be successful in March.
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