Saturday’s game in Tuscaloosa was anything but exciting for Auburn fans. Alabama came into the game nursing a 0-4 SEC start and a lot of uncertainties about the future job status of head coach Mark Gottfried. With Alabama desperately needing a victory to stay out of the basement of the SEC, the Crimson Tide faithful were awarded with a 97-77 beat down of archrival Auburn (12-6, 2-3), before an announced crowd of 15,316 at Coleman Coliseum. 

The Tigers hung with the Tide for the first 10 minutes of the contest, before Alabama’s size and strength began to take over the flow of the game. Auburn’s Quan Prowell was faced with the arduous task of guarding Alabama center, Richard Hendrix. Prowell picked up two quick fouls in the first half and was forced to the sideline. With Prowell on the bench, Hendrix began to assert his dominance over the smaller Auburn defenders.  He finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds. 

“Hendrix is hard to play against down there,” said Head Coach Jeff Lebo. “Hendrix, when he was involved, boy, he’s a beast down there.”

Alabama led 48-35 at halftime and with an aerial assault from the 3-point line, was able to extend their second-half lead to 30 points. The Tide shot an astonishing 12-of-25 for 48 percent from the 3-point line. Auburn scratched and clawed its way back, closing the gap to just 15 points with a minute left. Auburn fought hard on the offensive and defensive glass, only being outrebounded by a 38-36 mark. In the end, Alabama’s hot shooting and the abundance of turnovers by the Tigers were just too much. 

“We can’t expect to win when we give up 97 points,” Lebo said. “We battled hard in the second half, but they just had too much firepower.”

Prowell scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, despite being sidelined for most of the game by fouls and a hard blow to the nose. Rasheem Barrett scored 20 points, while Quantez Robertson added 10. Auburn returns home Wednesday to play LSU (7-12, 0-5), who they beat 74-67 in Baton Rouge on Jan. 16. Auburn doesn’t have time to dwell on this disappointing loss with tough games upcoming games against No. 13 ranked Vanderbilt (17-3, 2-3) and Kentucky (9-9, 3-2).