2/10/23 Auburn Articles

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Bruce Pearl: Brandon Miller's impact akin to Jabari Smith's last season

Published: Feb. 09, 2023, 3:51 p.m.

5–6 minutes

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Bruce Pearl can’t help but think about last season’s Auburn team when he looks across the state at the Tigers’ biggest rival.

No. 3 Alabama is in the middle of its own historic season — one that continues Saturday with a 1 p.m. showdown between the cross-state programs at Neville Arena — and it’s being led by an elite freshman forward and soon-to-be NBA lottery pick, no less. Sound familiar?

“The kind of year (Brandon Miller)’s having for Alabama reminds you so much of the kind of year that Jabari (Smith) had for us,” Pearl said Thursday afternoon.

Read more Auburn sports: Why Cadillac Williams was ‘ecstatic’ Auburn landed USF running back transfer Brian Battie

The one thing Nate Oats knows “for sure” Alabama will see from Auburn this weekend

“That was wild”: How Auburn climbed the 2023 recruiting rankings after late-season coaching change

Brandon Miller has been the centerpiece of the Tide’s success this season. The five-star freshman, who was the No. 14 overall player in the 2022 class, has lived up to the expectations in his first, and surely only, season of college ball.

The 6-foot-9 forward leads the SEC in scoring at 19 points per game while shooting at a 45.7 percent clip. That includes 44.4 percent from 3-point range, which is tops in the league and tied for ninth in the country this season.

Miller is also fourth in the conference in rebounding at 8.2 boards per game, and he has scored in double figures in 23 of Alabama’s 24 games this season, including all 11 games in SEC play. The one time he didn’t break double figures, he was held to eight points on 0-of-8 shooting in Alabama’s win against then-No. 1 Houston in December.

Miller’s prodigious freshman season has helped Alabama to a No. 3 national ranking in the AP poll and No. 2 in NET rankings. The Tide are undefeated in SEC play and atop the conference standings while defeating league opponents by an average of 22.3 points per game.

“He is a great player,” Auburn center Dylan Cardwell said of Miller. “I’m just very intrigued in his shots. Very efficient player. Doesn’t really have that many games where he’s in single-digit scoring. I think he’s one of the only players in the SEC, one of two only players to score double digits in all SEC games. So, I know he’s a heck of a scorer and a heck of a competitor, and he’s the life of that team, and I’ve been very impressed with his 3-point shooting.”

It’s easy to see why Pearl likened Miller’s impact for the Tide to that of Smith’s last season for the Tigers. Behind Smith, Auburn earned the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking and went wire-to-wire atop the SEC standings before earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Smith, the National Freshman of the Year and Auburn’s second-ever consensus All-American, averaged a team-leading 16.9 points on 42.9 percent shooting, including 42 percent from deep, last season while chipping in 7.4 rebounds and two assists per game.

“(Miller) can score on all three levels,” Pearl said. “He may have been 6-7 in high school, (but) he’s legitimately 6-9 now, and he’s a 6-9 two-guard. He presents just enormous challenges as far as how you guard them and whether you can switch or not, because he’ll take advantage. He’ll just take advantage of matchups.”

Pearl, like many coaches, attempted to land Miller at his program. Auburn even hosted him on an official visit back in June 2021, but it was an admittedly uphill battle for Pearl and his staff considering Miller’s father, Darrell Miller, played tight end at Alabama in the 1990s for coach Gene Stallings.

“He’s a great, great player, great talent, great kid, great family,” Pearl said. “…We just couldn’t break that Roll Tide. Dad played football (at Alabama), just you know, and (we) thought he was actually going to go pro.”

Miller, of course, didn’t go the professional route out of high school and instead signed with Nate Oats’ program. Now Pearl and Auburn will get their first of two regular-season looks at the freshman phenom when Alabama visits the Plains on Saturday afternoon.

“He is a talented freshman,” Auburn center Johni Broome said. “He is very skilled. He can score at the basket…He is deadly from 3-point range. He is a good player, but we have just got to pressure him. Don’t let him get the open looks — make all of his shots tough, and I think we will be fine.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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The one thing Nate Oats knows ‘for sure’ Alabama will see Saturday from Auburn

Updated: Feb. 09, 2023, 9:20 a.m.|Published: Feb. 09, 2023, 9:20 a.m.

3–4 minutes

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Brandon Miller drops 24; No. 3 Alabama dominates Florida HIGHLIGHTS

As the clock in Coleman Coliseum approached 11 p.m. CT less than a hour after Alabama’s Wednesday night blowout win over Florida, it was already time for Nate Oats to turn the page to Auburn.

“They’ve got a 24-hour head start on us,” Oats said of the Tigers, which lost Tuesday night at Texas A&M. “I’m gonna cut this thing short here and get to studying some Auburn film, because we’ve got some catch-up work to do here.”

The Tide’s annual home-and-home with its rival falls late on the calendar this year, with Saturday’s meeting in Neville Arena to be followed by a rematch March 1 in Coleman Coliseum. Alabama’s arrival in Auburn will be greeted by College Gameday and an ESPN broadcast as Auburn tries to knock off the third-ranked Tide, which remains undefeated in the SEC at 11-0.

“I’ve seen them play enough,” Oats said Wednesday. “I haven’t in-depth and studied them. I’ve seen them play other teams that we’ve been scouting. One thing I know for sure is they’re going to play as hard as a team play all year at their place. And their crowd is going to be really into it. They’ve got an unbelievable atmosphere to play games in.

“They’ve got a good team that’s going to play really hard, that’s really well-coached, so it’s going to be a tough road game for us.”

Oats is 3-3 against Auburn since taking over as Alabama’s coach in 2019. Auburn swept the series last year after Alabama won both games the season prior on its way to an SEC title. During Oats’ first season, his unranked Tide knocked off then-No. 4 Auburn in Tuscaloosa before falling in overtime across the state.

“It’s become a top-25 game,” Oats said. “[Bruce Pearl] has done an unbelievable job. The year before I got here, he was in the Final Four. Last year’s team was unbelievable. This year’s team, he’s competing with everybody. They’re one of the best teams in this league, and he lost a lot from last year.

“They will 100 percent be ready for us. We all know that.”

Auburn was not ranked in either major poll this week, with its absence from the Associated Press top-25 ending a program-record streak.

Alabama is No. 3 in this week’s AP poll, receiving at least one first-place vote for the second time over the past three weeks. And although former Auburn star Charles Barkley does not have a vote, he offered his take on Alabama’s place in college basketball last month.

“Alabama’s the best team in the country, honestly,” Barkley said Jan. 18 on Next Round Live.

Alabama has included Barkley’s comment in its pregame hype video it plays before player introductions in Coleman Coliseum the home games since.

Alabama rose to No. 2 in NET ranking Thursday, its highest of all-time. Tennessee had held that spot since Jan. 2 until its loss Wednesday night to Vanderbilt. Auburn is No. 32 in NET.

In ESPN’s latest bracket projections for the NCAA tournament, Alabama is a projected No. 1 seed and Auburn is predicted to receive a No. 9 seed.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.

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Alabama at Auburn odds, tips and betting trends

DataSkrive

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The Alabama Crimson Tide (21-3, 11-0 SEC) will look to extend a three-game winning streak when they visit the Auburn Tigers (17-7, 7-4 SEC) on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at Neville Arena. The game airs at 2:00 PM ET on ESPN. In this article, we investigate the Auburn vs. Alabama odds and lines for this matchup.

The Tigers and the Crimson Tide play with no line currently set for the matchup.

Auburn has a 12-12-0 record against the spread this season compared to Alabama, who is 15-9-0 ATS. The Tigers have hit the over in 15 games, while Crimson Tide games have gone over 11 times. Auburn has a 7-3 record against the spread while going 6-4 overall over the past 10 games. Alabama has gone 7-3 against the spread and 9-1 overall in its last 10 games.

Ahead of this college basketball matchup, here is everything you need to get ready for Saturday’s action.

How to watch Auburn vs. Alabama

• Game Day: Saturday, February 11, 2023
• Game Time: 2:00 PM ET
• TV Channel: ESPN

Find out how to watch for free with fuboTV.

Auburn vs. Alabama prediction

Alabama 75, Auburn 70

Against the spread

• Auburn has put together a 12-12-0 ATS record so far this year.
• Alabama is 15-9-0 ATS this season.
• The Tigers average only 3.6 more points per game (72.3) than the Crimson Tide allow (68.7).
• Auburn is 10-6 against the spread and 12-4 overall when scoring more than 68.7 points.
• Alabama has a 14-5 record against the spread and a 19-0 record overall when allowing fewer than 72.3 points.
• The Crimson Tide score an average of 83.7 points per game, 19.1 more points than the 64.6 the Tigers give up to opponents.
• Alabama is 15-9 against the spread and 21-3 overall when it scores more than 64.6 points.
• Auburn’s record is 12-12 against the spread and 17-7 overall when it gives up fewer than 83.7 points.

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Players to watch

Auburn

• Johni Broome leads his team in rebounds per game (9.0), and also puts up 13.7 points and 1.2 assists. At the other end, he posts 1.0 steal and 2.6 blocked shots (eighth in the country).
• Jaylin Williams posts 10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest. At the other end, he delivers 1.1 steals and 1.0 block.

Alabama

• Brandon Miller is posting team highs in points (19.0 per game) and rebounds (8.3). And he is producing 2.0 assists, making 45.7% of his shots from the floor and 44.4% from beyond the arc, with 3.2 triples per game.
• Mark Sears gets the Crimson Tide 13.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He also puts up 1.4 steals and 0.1 blocked shots.
• The Crimson Tide get 10.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game from Noah Clowney.

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