Allen Flanigan and Johni Broome hit the floor under Auburn’s basket as Alabama ran down court in transition. The two Tigers were looking for a whistle, but to no avail.

On the other end of the floor, Alabama’s Rylan Griffen threw down a dunk with 58 seconds to play, ending any hope of Auburn pulling off its biggest win of the season and an upset of the nation’s third-ranked team. Auburn gave rival Alabama everything it had Saturday afternoon, going blow for blow with arguably the nation’s top team for the better part of the game, but the Tigers’ offense fell flat down the closing stretch of a 77-69 loss at Neville Arena.

Bruce Pearl’s team has now dropped five of its last six, as another opportunity at an all-important Quad 1 win slipped through Auburn’s grasp, this time at home as the Tigers dropped their third straight game overall.

In a game that saw 13 lead changes, Auburn couldn’t overcome the last one, which came with 5:59 to play. Alabama outscored Auburn 16-7 over the game’s final six minutes, as the Tigers missed 10 of their final 13 shots down the stretch of another frustrating loss.

Here are AL.com’s key takeaways from Auburn’s latest loss:

Auburn puts the lid on Brandon Miller, but it wasn’t enough

Brandon Miller has been the best player in the SEC this season, scoring in double figures in all but one game for Alabama on the year. On Saturday afternoon, Auburn did its best to contain the soon-to-be NBA Draft lottery pick.

Auburn limited Miller to 13 points and an overall poor shooting performance. He was 5-of-12 from the field and 0-of-7 from beyond the arc, as the Tigers gave him all they had on the defensive end.

Despite Auburn’s ability to keep Miller in check, it wasn’t enough — even on an afternoon that saw the Tide struggle from beyond the arc. Auburn did well trying to run Alabama off the 3-point line, and the Tigers held the Tide to just 6-of-21 from deep. However, it was a give and take for Auburn, as Alabama took advantage off the dribble. The Tide shot 59.2 percent overall despite their struggles from beyond the arc, shooting 23-of-28 from inside the 3-point line, including 12-of-16 on layups and 8-of-8 on dunks.

Auburn couldn’t overcome its own offensive struggles

Auburn’s offensive struggles were encapsulated by another late-game stretch in which the Tigers just couldn’t execute and get shots to fall, missing 10 of their final 13 attempts from the field.

It summed up an afternoon in which Auburn shot just 32.3 percent overall despite outshooting Alabama from 3-point range. The Tigers connected on seven of their 24 attempts from beyond the arc, with all seven makes coming from Wendell Green Jr. (4-of-9) and Jaylin Williams (3-of-6). The rest of Auburn’s rotation shot a combined 0-for-9 from deep on the day.

Auburn finished the game shooting just 13-of-38 on 2-point attempts, including just 5-of-18 on layups against Alabama. That included a particularly rough shooting performance from Broome, who finished with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting while pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.

Green led Auburn with 24 points on 7-of-19 shooting, while Williams 16 on 5-of-8 shooting overall. K.D. Johnson was the only other Tiger to crack double-figures, finishing with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Jaylin Williams starts hot, goes quiet in second half

Jaylin Williams was arguably the best player on the court during the first half against Alabama, scoring 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 on 3-point attempt. Williams scored only two points after halftime, a dunk late in the game, and was hampered by foul trouble during stretches.

AL.com will update this post.

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