Alabama basketball’s SEC regular-season championship hopes took a hit Saturday, when the Crimson Tide fell to Auburn. The Tigers won the Iron Bowl of Basketball 94-85, dropping the Tide to 21-4 on the season, 10-2 in SEC play.

UA never led the battle of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, struggling on defense throughout. The loss begins a gauntlet of excellent SEC matchups to end the season for Alabama, with no unranked teams currently left on the schedule.

Before that, here’s three reasons for the loss.

Missed opportunities

As the rest of the SEC has found out this season, Auburn is a war machine. Alabama got its first lesson of the year on Saturday, with the Tigers dispelling any idea that they have an equal within the state.

Across the board, Auburn looked better than Alabama. Even when the Crimson Tide made a run, AU felt inevitable.

Johni Broome was superb, dominating the Tide on the glass. Broome finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and six assists

Alabama cut things close in the second half, tying it twice, but the Tigers came on late, once again demonstrating what they were capable of, even against an excellent team, with Alabama going 3-for-12 from the field when the game was within three points.

When the UA offense was working, Alabama could play with Auburn. Unfortunately for the Tide, that wasn’t often enough.

Offensive woes

Alabama’s offense looked off kilter throughout the game. The Crimson Tide shot just 39% from the field throughout and was 5-for-26 from three-point range.

The Tigers got off to a hot start. Auburn scored the first nine points of the game, and the Tide took until 17:44 to get on the board with a Grand Nelson free throw.

With the three-point shot not falling, Alabama has at times been able to work the ball inside but wasn’t able to finish at the rim either against the Tigers. The Crimson Tide was 14-for-30 on layups, something UA guard Chris Youngblood said could be an easy fix.

“Make the layups,” Youngblood said of the solution. “We always worked really hard, so it’s just a focus thing. Making layups is a part of the game.”

Alabama was able to limit its turnovers to seven, a positive sign if it can continue moving forward. However, outside of a few runs, that was the only bright spot against the Tigers.

Same old issue

Hours before tipoff in Coleman Coliseum, Nate Oats did an interview with ESPN’s College Gameday. The first question from Rece Davis: what must the Crimson Tide do to win a national championship?

Oats hit on his favorites from this season. UA needed to limit turnovers, be consistently good on defense, and rebound better.

The defense was the problem against Auburn. Alabama allowed 1.27 points per possession and six Tiger players got into double figures.

Johni Broome led the way, with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Denver Jones was second in scoring with 16 points. When Alabama made things tight, the Tigers were always able to find a way to score and halt the runs.

Alabama has shown flashes on defense throughout the 2024-25 season. However, with a brutal stretch ahead, the group will have to be better as SEC play continues.