Alabama entered the 2022-23 college basketball ranked No. 20 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll. In year four under Nate Oats, the Crimson Tide were expected to contend for an SEC title but figured to be a piece or two away from national title contention.
That is not the case anymore.
At Neville Arena on Saturday afternoon, Bruce Pearl’s Auburn team hosted Alabama for arguably the biggest college basketball game of the time. The environment was electric on the Plains and Auburn gave Alabama one of its best swings.
It still wasn’t enough.
The Crimson Tide shot a blistering 23 of 28 (82.