Hazel Green coach Jeremy Crutcher knew what he was getting into when planning this year’s basketball schedule.
Plenty of talented Class 6A and 7A teams, a Huntsville City Classic appearance and out-of-state contests left the Trojans with plenty to learn from: some wins, some losses.
Read MoreMadison Academy’s Shane Duke received a pass from Gianssen Valdez and muscled up another layup against New Hope.
He finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Class 4A, No. 4-ranked Mustangs won Saturday’s sub-regional 54-41. Madison Academy (23-8) punched its ticket to the Northeast Regional at Jacksonville State to play Hokes Bluff on Thursday.
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Read MoreEthan Stokes finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks as McGill-Toolen – the 6A, Area 2 champ – defeated Area 1 runner-up and No. 6-ranked Saraland 39-30 to advance to advance to the Class 6A Sweet 16 in Montgomery.
“Our guys have been resilient all year,” McGill-Toolen coach Phillip Murphy said. “They just find a way to win. It isn’t always the prettiest, but they find a way. Hats off to Saraland. They gave us all we wanted. Their coaching staff does an unbelievable job. On to the next one.”
Read MoreAuburn men’s basketball suffered its first Southeastern Conference loss of the season Saturday, falling 90-81 to Florida at home and snapping a 14-game winning streak.
Here’s everything head coach Bruce Pearl had to say after the loss:
Opening statement
“I’ll start off by congratulating Florida on a great, great victory, great game plan. I thought they, being down Martin, they really rallied. And Clayton was tremendous. Our gameplan defensively was to try to get the ball out of his hands. And after the first couple possessions, you would never know that that was our game plan.
We did it the first couple of possessions and then we stopped doing it. Kind of sensed this was about to happen at any point. We have had greater effort, energy, or at least match the effort, energy of every team we played. I knew that we were due for some. We were due for a letdown.
You know, again, give Florida credit. I think, understand if I would redo a few things, I don’t know that I made or had our team understand how important this game was to Florida in the sense that Florida could be a Final Four team. If they lose this game, they’re four games behind us in the league. Alright? Now they’re only two and they’re still in it.
I mean, they just came in here like they had to win it. That’s how they played every possession. They played harder. They played better. They played more desperately. We did not look like the number one team in the country. We didn’t act like the number one team in the country. We didn’t prepare like it. And as a result, we got beat.”
On moving on and preparing for the next game
“Practice at two o’clock tomorrow. Practice at two o’clock tomorrow. They lift at one. I’ll go home tonight, start working on a little bit of Vanderbilt, probably look at this a little bit, and just keep doing what we do, you know. You gotta embrace the grind.
There’s no question it’s a grind. It’s a grind for everybody. We go to Vanderbilt where they’ve only lost once at home. And they’ve beaten Kentucky, and they just beat Texas today, and they’ve beaten Tennessee. So, we know that that’s gonna be a tough place to win.”
On Florida’s 22 assists
“They did a great job of making plays out of their ball screen. They did a great job of throwing it out of the ball screen. They were properly spaced. We had a game plan that we thought was going to be effective. It wasn’t. We kept on trying to get the guys to execute that game plan instead of maybe we could have made some adjustments.
But the way they played out of the ball screen and shared the ball and spaced, and they banged a bunch of shots. I mean, they banged a bunch of shots. And their bench really, really stepped up for them. I mean, really stepped up for them.
We missed a lot of shots inside, a lot of two-point baskets. We’ll go back and look at it and go, ‘Golly.’ In a big game, you’ve gotta make them.”
On Denver Jones’ performance
I would have to look at the stat sheet to recognize that that’s what it was. I did. I looked at it earlier and went, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t realize Denver didn’t score, didn’t make a bucket. I think that there was a little level of a fatigue with it. I do. Because he’d been just terrific. So I’m not worried about Denver.
On whether he was surprised by how Florida’s frontcourt played
No. No. That’s how they played last year at Florida. Don’t forget this team had us down 25 last year at Florida. So it was very much the same. They handed it to us down there and they handed it to us again. We were able to get them in the finals of the SEC tournament, but they handed it to us. And they were more physical, they were more aggressive. And as a result, they were more successful.
On how the team we’ll respond to adversity
We’ll see you tomorrow at two o’clock
On what made it difficult to guard Walter Clayton Jr.
It required multiple effort. It just required multiple effort, and we just didn’t give it.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
Read MoreAuburn basketball entered Saturday’s matchup with Florida one of the hottest teams in the country.
Now dropping its first conference game of the season, following the 90-81 defeat to Florida. How will things shape out for the Tigers the rest of way against conference opponents?
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told members of the media postgame that his group was due for a letdown.
“I mean, they just came in here like they had to win it. That’s how they played their possession. And they played harder. They played better. They played more desperately,” Bruce Pearl said postgame. “We did not look like the No.1 team in the country. We didn’t act like the No.1 team in the country. We didn’t prepare like it. And as a result, we got beat.”
Florida played poised from start to finish only allowing for Auburn to lead 12:52 minutes of the game. Despite the stellar shooting from guard Walter Clayton Jr., the Gators frontcourt was the gamechangers of the contest.
All eyes were on the forward matchup between Alex Condon and Johni Broome. Condon accepted the challenge finishing with 17 points on just three missed shots.
Off the bench, Florida’s Thomas Haugh added 16 points and nine rebounds as the Tigers had no response for that duo. Haugh and Condon combined for 19 of Florida’s 40 total rebounds.
“That’s how they played last year at Florida. Don’t forget this team had us down 25 last year at Florida. So, it was very much the same. They handed it to us down there and they handed it to us again,” Pearl said. “We were able to get them in the finals of the SEC tournament, but they handed it to us. And they were more physical, they were more aggressive. And as a result, they were more successful.”
For Auburn, it’s main source of offense came from the game’s leading scorer Miles Kelly with 22 points. Broome finished with his 73rd career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Auburn big was not as dominant as he looked against other conference opponents.
Broome finished 8-of-19 from the floor and struggled scoring from close range with the length the Gators presented down low. As a team, Auburn was 13-of-28 on layup attempts.
Florida coach Todd Golden spoke on the gameplan for defending Broome and how that tactic slowed down the entire Auburn offense.
“I think our guys did a great job of sitting on his right shoulder. You know, he’s obviously left hand dominant and we talked to our guys before the game about we’re okay with him making a few over his left shoulder with his right hand, even if they’re easier shots to kind of take him out of his rhythm, take him out of his flow. And he still got back to that right shoulder a couple times, but we made it hard on him,” Golden said.
“I thought Condon was incredibly physical and tough guarding him. So, with him still making eight field goals, I felt like we made him work for all of them.”
With the Tigers travelling to Vanderbilt and Alabama next week, Saturday’s defeat served as a wakeup call for Auburn.
“I’ll go home tonight, start working on a little bit of Vanderbilt, probably look at this a little bit, and just keep doing what we do, you know. You got to embrace the grind. There’s no question it’s a grind. It’s a grind for everybody,” Pearl said.
“We go to Vanderbilt where they’ve only lost once at home. And they’ve beaten Kentucky, and they just beat Texas [Saturday], and they’ve beaten Tennessee. So, you know, we know that we know that’s going to be a tough place to win.”
Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected].
Read MoreThis is an opinion column.
Neville Arena wasn’t itself early Saturday afternoon.
Chunks of unoccupied orange seats witnessed the final few minutes of a top-10 SEC showdown.
It was quiet, at least by Neville’s standards.
Stunned into submission by No. 6 Florida, the best environment in the conference was reduced to booing Gator players relishing the moment.
Florida 90, Auburn 81 wasn’t some fluky game that could’ve gone either way.
No, the No. 1 team in the nation took a healthy beating on a home court that isn’t supposed to be conquered. This was an Auburn team that had just one loss all season, 14 straight wins and was starting to look like a team that would require perfection to topple.
The Gators flirted with that at times Saturday while delivering a few crucial lessons.
Because it felt like Auburn hit cruise control on this one instead of mashing the gas.
And there’s no room for 80% effort against anyone, let alone the No. 6 team in the nation entering with a 19-3 record.
Florida led this one by as many as 21 — the largest deficit Auburn’s faced all season. From 3-point range, it made 13 shots. That’s four more than the Tigers allowed all season.
And the 90 points? Six more than Duke scored in the previous high and the only loss on the scorecard before Florida went wild in Neville.
This ended a 12-game home winning streak for an Auburn team that’s 101-8 on this floor since 2017.
It was that efficiency that made Saturday’s loss so stunning.
Especially considering it won its last outing here by 28, but maybe that was a factor.
Auburn led 15-5 early and it felt like a sense of comfort settled over this place. It would be understandable if the Tigers were beginning to feel untouchable.
Turns out, they’re not.
Florida couldn’t do much offensively in the opening few minutes, starting the game making just 2-of-9 shots.
The guests then made 20 of the next 30.
Ball game.
It met Auburn’s physical play in the paint and, didn’t just back down, but doubled down.
The Tigers made just 13-of-28 layups as national player of the year candidate Johni Broome didn’t look like himself. He finished with 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting after making just three of his first 10.
There were moments where Auburn flashed its No. 1 pedigree but once the lead hit 21, the Tigers never got closer than nine.
This, keep in mind, from a Florida team that took a 20-point beating last week at Tennessee. The same group that scored just 44 points in Knoxville put 48 on Auburn in the first half.
A brutal reward for Auburn students who camped out a few nights outside the arena for the best seats.
But it’s the wake up reminder a team like this needs in early February to avoid a repeat in March.
This program’s been in a similar place before, but there’s reason to believe the 2025 outcome will differ from the 2022 version. That Auburn team rose to No. 1 for the first time on the back of a 19-game winning streak.
Coincidentally, that heater also ended on Feb. 8 when Arkansas pulled the emergency brake on the storybook season.
The Tigers then limped home with a 6-5 final chapter and a second-round NCAA tournament loss.
That drained much of the February optimism from that team’s legacy.
But that was a team built on young talent and recent transfers.
Three years later, this Tiger roster is constructed for this journey’s mental and physical strain. A veteran core is seasoned by young stars, not the other way around. They’ve been through the mood swings of a season when pressure builds as temperatures rise.
They’ve proved what they can do when the momentum is pumping, so now the test is responding when it’s reversed.
This would appear to be just a momentary glitch. The fact this loss came at home is the most surprising part of the equation but it’s not like they laid an egg against a turkey.
The SEC is fully stocked this season — much deeper than it was three years ago — so this day was coming.
It officially ended any hope of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with Alabama next Saturday.
Though it’s hard to imagine Auburn going through the motions a week from now in Tuscaloosa, flushing this kind of performance before that mutual Super Bowl is healthier than anyone in Neville Arena would care to admit.
Auburn got beat straight up in the magic funhouse that’s been a graveyard for outsiders as the program entered the national elite.
There’s also no reason to panic for those who beat the traffic late Saturday afternoon in Auburn.
They’re not untouchable when focus slips but this team is built to sustain body blows like this better than its last poll-topper.
Right?
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
Read MoreDown his backcourt partner and Florida’s second-leading scorer, Gators point guard Walter Clayton Jr. delivered a performance worthy of knocking off the No. 1 team in the country.
Despite being at the top of the scouting report, he finished with 19 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four 3-pointers as No. 6 Florida knocked off the top-ranked Tigers 90-81.
Sixteen of Clayton’s 19 points came in the first half, nearly hitting his 17.4 points per game average in the first 20 minutes.
“Our game plan defensively was to try to get the ball out of his hands,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said after the game. “And after the first couple possessions, you would never know that that was our game plan.”
When asked why Auburn was not able to stick to its gameplan of denying Clayton the ball, Pearl pointed to a lack of effort.
“It just required multiple effort,” Pearl said, “And we just didn’t give it.”
Clayton only scored three in the second half on 1-for-5 shooting, but had seven assists as Florida’s offense performed better than anyone else against the Tigers this season. The Gators’ 90 points and 13 3-pointers were both season highs for Auburn’s defense.
There was uncertainty around whether Clayton would even play against Auburn, missing Florida’s previous game with an ankle injury. Head coach Todd Golden announced Friday that Clayton would play, and the senior from Lake Wales, Florida, hardly looked limited.
Without Alijah Martin (15.3 PPG) Clayton had to carry much of the offensive load in the backcourt, which he did in multiple facets.
While Martin wasn’t on the court, Clayton credited the impact he brought to the game from the bench, a role that Clayton played when he missed Florida’s win over Vanderbilt due to injury.
“Alijah wasn’t on the court, but Alijah was still there,” Clayton said after the game. “It was just a lot of great communication between us today and we executed like coach said.”
Clayton’s 19 points jump out, but his nine assists to three turnovers helped Florida’s offense continually break down Auburn’s often slow to react defense.
“We had a game plan that we thought was going to be effective. It wasn’t,” Pearl said. “We kept on trying to get the guys to execute that game plan instead of maybe we could have made some adjustments.”
Miles Kelly, one of Auburn’s perimeter defenders, was also asked what made Clayton so hard to slow down, he pointed to his shooting ability, but also talked about his playmaking.
“Ultimately we impacted ball screens and got the ball out of his hands,” Kelly said, “But other guys made shots.”
Many of Florida’s nine non-Clayton 3-pointers came on wide open looks, and the Gators could have stretched the lead even further if a few more of those clean looks fell in the second half.
If you look at Auburn’s schedule now, you can argue that its two losses came in its two worst defensive performances. The losses to Duke and Florida were the two highest point totals the Tigers have allowed this season, and Pearl said after the Duke loss that Auburn did not “bother” the Blue Devils enough defensively.
The same can be said against Florida, and this time, Pearl didn’t seem satisfied with his team’s effort.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
Read MoreAlabama’s junior U.S. senator said she will work with President Donald Trump’s health secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to “ensure our nation remains at the forefront” of innovation, research and care after funding cuts announced Friday night by the National Institutes of Health.
“Every cent of hard-earned taxpayer money should be spent efficiently, judiciously, and accountably — without exception,” U.S. Sen. Katie Britt said on Saturday.
“While the administration works to achieve this goal at NIH, a smart, targeted approach is needed in order to not hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama,” Britt told AL.com.
On Friday night, the NIH announced it was cutting payments toward overhead costs for research institutions that receive its grants, a policy that could leave universities with major budget gaps, The Associated Press reported.
Currently, some universities receive 50% or more of the amount of a grant to put toward support staff and other needs, but that would be capped at 15%, according to AP.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville are examples of the state institutions that could be affected by the cuts.
UAB alone has received more than a billion dollars in NIH funding in recent years, AL.com’s John Archibald reports. UAH also receives NIH funding, university spokesman Russell Nelson said Saturday but couldn’t say how much.
Steve Ammons, president of the Birmingham Business Alliance, said he was unsure of the specifics of the cuts, “but certainly any reduction in funding would be a hit to UAB since they were in the top 30 for 2024 for NIH funding. Certainly something we need to watch and make sure we advocate for the state’s largest employer.”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin also said he was trying to assess the impact. He said the cuts would first hurt UAB’s ability to save lives, now and in the future, and potentially stifle technological growth that not only makes us healthier, but sustains the economy.
“People need to be reminded that UAB is not just the largest employer in the city, it’s the largest employer in the state,” he said. “So as it relates to our state’s GDP, as it relates to our economic growth, as it relates to our future around genomics, personalized medicine, and where health care is going, NIH research dollars play a massive, significant role. And without a doubt, without knowing numbers yet, I can tell you this early, just receiving the information, those in the UAB family have a right to be concerned.”
See related story: NIH cuts threaten UAB, Birmingham and beyond – al.com
Britt said the Trump administration wants “the United States to lead the world in innovation and achieve the impossible.
“State-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and technology — along with the best and brightest people — are needed to fulfill President Trump’s vision,” the senator said.
“We can eliminate administrative bloat and waste while not losing our competitive edge to adversaries like Communist China. I look forward to working with incoming HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to accomplish this vital mission and ensure our nation remains at the forefront of medical innovation, research, and patient care.”
Efforts to reach other members of Alabama’s congressional delegation were unsuccessful.
Although Kennedy must be confirmed by a vote of the full Senate, Britt has shown she has been able to quickly get results with public requests to members of Trump’s Cabinet.
Just hours after Pete Hegseth was confirmed as the new Defense Secretary, Britt reached out to him on social media regarding an Air Force instructional video about the Tuskegee Airmen.
Britt expressed confidence that Hegseth would “correct and get to the bottom of the malicious compliance” seen in the wake of Trump’s DEI order.
Hegseth publicly responded within 20 minutes, assuring the senator the situation would be resolved.
AL.com journalist John Archibald contributed to this report.
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