Alabama Basketball losing to Auburn 94-85 was not the worst thing that happened in Coleman Coliseum Saturday afternoon. Losing by nine points to the Crimson Tide's biggest rival was bad enough. Worse was that for long stretches of the game the Crimson Tide was a team unable to compete with the Tigers.
Alabama Basketball has enough roster talent to compete with Auburn, even though Saturday's game indicated otherwise. Alabama outrebounded Auburn 49-40 and the Tide had its second-lowest number of turnovers this season, with just seven. Alabama outshot the Tigers at the free throw line, scoring 26 points on 35 attempts. The Crimson Tide also had five more field goal attempts than the Tigers.
Auburn won because it shot 46%, including 40% from three. Alabama shot 39%, including a dismal 19% from outside the arc. The Crimson Tide's 'go-to' three shooters, Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, and Aden Holloway were a combined 4-for-18 shooting threes.
Bruce Pearl and his players earned every bit of credit Alabama basketball fans can stand to give them. Defensively, Auburn played an outstanding game. According to Ken Pomeroy, Auburn came into the game with the 13th-best Defensive Efficiency rating in college basketball. Alabama Basketball has beaten two better defensive teams this season. In November, Alabama beat Houston 85-80 in overtime. The Cougars are No. 3 in Division One in Defensive efficiency. A month ago, Alabama beat Texas A&M 94-88. The Aggies are No. 6 in Defensive Efficiency.
The difference between the two wins and the loss to Auburn is that the Cougars and the Aggies did not shoot well against Alabama. Houston was 31.6% from three and 36.9% overall, while Texas A&M was 22.2% from three and 38.9% overall.
Auburn made seven more threes than Alabama, mostly because the Tigers were so good at denying the Crimson Tide good three-point opportunities. They often ran the Tide off the line and when Alabama resorted to dribble penetration, Auburn's defense made many shots at the rim, low percentage chances.
Just a loss for Alabama Basketball
As disappointing as the outcome was; there is some upside to be gained. For one, Joe Lunardi stated on Saturday night that the loss would not knock the Crimson Tide from the current No.2 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.
More importantly, Alabama can and should learn from what did not go well against Auburn. Six more tough SEC games lie ahead. Three are road games, beginning Wednesday night against a good Missouri team. Alabama coaches and players need a quick recalibration. A loss against a top team is nothing more than a loss. The key is using it to make future losses less likely.
Note: Stats from the Houston and Texas A&M games provided by ESPN.