Photo by Todd Van Emst
Between the late start time — a 9 p.m. ET start puts the timeline for finishing stories under a major crunch — and some out-of-work activities the blog had to handle this morning, this post is coming a little belated, but at the same time, Auburn’s 68-50 loss to Alabama on Tuesday night revealed a few notes that the blog wanted to post.
For most Auburn fans, the immediate takeaway from Tuesday’s game was part disappointment and part frustration with the referees, who whistled the Tigers for three technical fouls, two for hanging on the rim too long following big dunks. But when the first technical came, Auburn held a 14-7 lead, and the Tigers had just started a run before the second. For whatever reason, Auburn did not respond well to Alabama’s pressure despite a vocal home crowd and a familiarity with Auburn Arena that had produced a 12-1 record at home for the Tigers before Tuesday night’s game.
Both Tony Barbee and Frankie Sullivan alluded to Auburn’s problems in their postgame interviews. When Alabama and a couple of controversial calls turned up the pressure, Auburn wilted, and the Crimson Tide took advantage despite playing short-handed following the suspension of Tony Mitchell. Coming off of an 88-point, three-turnover performance in a Saturday loss to Mississippi State, Auburn turned the ball over 20 times, shot just 28.6 percent from 3-point range and made only 12-of-26 free throws. Not exactly the type of performance Auburn was hoping to get.
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- Varez Ward struggled mightily on Tuesday. Coming off of three straight solid performances, Ward was befuddled by Alabama’s defensive quickness, and the worst game of his season was the result. Following a 24-point, 5-assist, 3-steal performance against Mississippi State’s Dee Bost Saturday, Ward had three points, 1-of-5 shooting and turned the ball over six times. To his credit, Ward accepted the blame for Auburn’s turnover problems. “They played pretty good defense, but most of it was my fault, honestly,” Ward said. “I got past my defender a couple of times and I just lost the ball.”
- Rob Chubb knocked down his first four shots, but then he only took two shots the rest of the way, missing both. A pattern has developed where Auburn goes to Chubb early in games, then loses track of the Tigers’ center the rest of the way. Ward did say following the game that the Tigers probably should have looked to keep Chubb going following his early outburst.
- Other than the breakaway dunk that earned Auburn’s second technical foul, Chris Denson was quiet again. Billed as instant offense off the bench at the start of the season, Denson has been extremely quiet on the offensive end lately, and he only scored four points against Alabama. A consistent scorer at the beginning of the season, Denson does not play enough defense to warrant significant playing time if he’s not putting points in the basket.
- For what it’s worth, the blog thought both dunk technicals were questionable, but in the interest of full disclosure, I have always disliked the rule. Unless it’s an obvious attempt to show up the other team by doing a pull-up or hanging with one arm while pointing at the opponent, the rim-hanging technical is a completely subjective call. What one referee deems hanging on the rim may go unnoticed by every other referee.