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General

Tornado watch issued for North Alabama until early Sunday morning

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch at 9:12 p.m. on Saturday in effect until Sunday at 4 a.m. for Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall and Morgan counties.

Tornado watch vs. Tornado warning: Know the difference

When it comes to tornadoes, understanding the distinction between a Tornado watch and a Tornado warning can be a matter of life and death. Here’s a breakdown:

Tornado watch: Be prepared!

A Tornado watch is your advance warning that conditions are ripe for tornado formation.
It’s your signal to review your emergency plans, ensure your supplies are in order, and identify your safe room.
While it doesn’t mean a tornado is imminent, it’s a heads-up that you should be ready to act quickly if a Tornado warning is issued or if you suspect a tornado is approaching.
Tornado Watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center and often encompass a broad area, potentially spanning multiple counties or even states.

Tornado warning: Take action!

A Tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted or detected by weather radar.
This is the real deal – there’s an immediate danger to life and property.
Your response should be quick: seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building, away from windows.
If you’re in a mobile home, a vehicle, or caught outdoors, seek the nearest substantial shelter and shield yourself from flying debris.
Warnings are issued by your local forecast office and pinpoint a much smaller area, typically the size of a city or a small county, where a tornado has been identified, either by radar or by trained spotters and law enforcement.

Knowing the difference between these two alerts is essential in staying safe during tornado season. Stay informed, have a plan, and act promptly when danger approaches.

Prepare for a tornado

Stay weather-ready:

Keep an eye on the weather forecast to stay informed about tornado risks. Tune in to local news or a NOAA Weather Radio for updates on tornado watches and warnings

Sign up for notifications:

Know how your community sends warnings. Some communities have outdoor sirens. Others depend on media and smartphones to alert residents of severe storms capable of producing tornadoes.

Create a communication plan:

Create a family emergency plan that includes a designated meeting place and important contact information. If your home lacks a basement, identify a nearby safe building, like a church or a relative’s house, that you can reach quickly.

Choose a secure shelter:

Pick a safe room in your home, such as a basement, storm cellar, or an interior room on the lowest floor with no windows.

Establish a communication plan:

Conduct a family severe thunderstorm drill regularly so everyone knows what to do if a tornado is approaching. Make sure all members of your family know to go there when tornado warnings are issued. Don’t forget pets if time allows.

Prepare your home:

Consider having your safe room reinforced. You can find plans for reinforcing an interior room to provide better protection on the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.

Extend a helping hand:

Encourage your loved ones to prepare for the possibility of tornadoes. Take CPR training so you can help if someone is hurt.

Tornado safety: What to do when the twister hits

When a tornado strikes, taking swift action is crucial to ensuring your safety and minimizing potential harm. Follow these guidelines from the weather service:

Stay informed:

Stay vigilant and stay informed by tuning in to local news broadcasts or using a NOAA Weather Radio to receive updates on tornado watches and warnings.

At home:

If you find yourself under a tornado warning, immediately seek refuge in your basement, safe room, or an interior room without windows. If there’s enough time, bring your pets with you.

At work or school:

In the workplace or at school, adhere to tornado drill procedures and proceed promptly and calmly to your designated tornado shelter. Avoid areas with large, open spaces like cafeterias, gymnasiums, or auditoriums, and stay away from windows.

Outdoors:

When you are outdoors and a tornado is approaching, seek immediate refuge inside a sturdy building. Remember that sheds, storage facilities, mobile homes, and tents are not safe options. If there is sufficient time, make your way to a secure structure.

In a vehicle:

Being inside a vehicle during a tornado is highly unsafe. Your best course of action is to drive to the nearest shelter. If reaching shelter is not possible, either stay inside your car while covering your head, or abandon the vehicle and seek safety in a low-lying area such as a ditch or ravine.

Remember, acting swiftly and following safety protocols are essential for your well-being when a tornado is imminent.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

General

Rock star sells Tesla and gives money to NPR, ‘which is under threat by President Musk’

Sheryl Crow had once been a proud Tesla owner, even interfacing with Elon Musk on social media about her car. But whatever support the environmentally minded singer formerly had for the EVs has been superseded by her alarm at the rightward political turn taken by the man she now calls “President Musk,” and so she is saying: “So long Tesla.”

In a video posted to Instagram, Crow stands on the street as her Tesla is towed away. The caption says that she has sold the car and donated the money to NPR, “which is under threat by President Musk.”

Her statement begins: “My parents always said… you are who you hang out with. There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.”

Crow is part of a wave of liberally minded Tesla owners who have decided they can no longer drive cars so closely associated with the world’s richest man, now that he has been set up by President Donald Trump as seemingly his closest advisor. Earlier this week, Musk — who, as head of the unofficial government agency DOGE, is taking the lead on eliminating thousands of federal government jobs and cutting back agencies and services — stood literally as Trump’s right-hand man in a headline-making Oval Office news conference where he, not the president, did most of the talking.

Crow’s social media message continued: “Money donated to @npr, which is under threat by President Musk, in hopes that the truth will continue to find its way to those willing to know the truth.”

The singer’s message closed out by adding hashtags for #PresidentMusk as well as #PresidentTrump and #ProtectTheConstitution , plus the suggestion to call 202-224-3141, the switchboard for the U.S. Capitol.

It was a far cry from five years ago, when Crow retweeted Musk as he offered a solution for a problem she had tweeted out about the screen on her Tesla going black.

The immediate responses to Crow’s Tesla-farewell message fell along predictable lines, with many applauding her for the move, and some conservatives — who have long ridiculed the singer for her progressive stances — finding a fresh reason to slam her activism.

Some of Crow’s fellow Nashvillians were particularly supportive. Kacey Musgraves left no less than two messages of support for the artist she considers royalty, calling her both “Sheryl Queen” and “Sheryl CrowN.” Wrote Margo Price: “Love to see it.” And Alyssa Milano left an emoticon face with hearts in its eyes.

Among responses from the right, Instagram users posted messages like: “You realize Musk already got the money for that one right? If you like the car, you only hurt yourself.” … “So you support wasteful government spending, money that could’ve gone to support our veterans. Got it.” … “I so love it when wealthy liberals that tell the struggling rest of us how morally justified it is that the government must continue to waste our tax money.” … “You loved Elon when he donated to Dems. Now that he’s uncovering fraud and waste on a grand scale that is mind-boggling, you’re all full of virtue signaling. Oh, we’re so impressed.”

Some even claimed they were fine with her until this last straw, unlikely as that might be given her long history of taking positions on the environment, gun control and other issues. “Life long fan unfollowing your stupid liberal ass!” wrote one.

Crow was most recently seen as part of the all-star band opening the Grammys with a song in support of fire relief aid for Los Angeles. Her most recent album, “Evolution,” was released last year. In 2023, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

General

How Alabama basketball must move forward after losing to Auburn: ‘Real-life stuff’

Alabama basketball has a daunting task ahead of it. The Crimson Tide must pick up the pieces after Saturday’s game against Auburn, a 94-85 loss at Coleman Coliseum where Nate Oats’ team struggled defensively and couldn’t find offensive consistency.

The Tide will have to go through a rough slate to end the regular season on a high note. No teams outside of the top 25 appear on Alabama’s schedule to finish out.

“We got six tough games,” Oats said after the loss. “We gotta be ready for every last one of them. We talk a lot about adversity. Sometimes it makes you better.”

Alabama travels to Missouri Wednesday, before facing Kentucky at home Saturday. After that, home games against Mississippi State and Florida sandwich a road trip to Tennessee.

At the end of it all, another crack at Auburn. That one will be outside the confines of Coleman Coliseum, at Neville Arena.

Oats recalled a book, The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday, which he had read with the Crimson Tide staff in the past. The book describes a way to turn challenges into opportunities, inspired by principles of stoicism.

“No teams are any good that don’t face a little adversity,” Oat said. “Every goal that we’ve got remaining, is still in our control, and that’s gotta be the mindset. Nobody’s feeling good today. We just lost to our archrival. Had a chance in our own gym to do it. Brought (ESPN’s College) Gameday in here. It was a great environment. That’s why we play, love these games. But we came out with an L, so how do we respond?”

Alabama has problems to fix moving forward. Its defense has been inconsistent all season, and allowed 1.27 points per possession Saturday, which will hardly do the trick if the offense continues to struggle.

The Crimson Tide only shot 39% from the field against Auburn as well, and hit just five of its 26 threes. If Oats’ group is to finish well and achieve its postseason goals, things must be cleaned up quickly.

“I told them, this is real-life stuff,” Oats said. “Shots aren’t dropping. Something happens in life. (Are you a) frontrunner, where you’ve only got the right attitude when stuff’s going well? Or have you got enough character, enough intestinal fortitude to play just as hard when stuff’s (not) going well? Or you’re giving everything you’ve got to your job when stuff’s not going well at home. Whatever it is, these are life lessons that we’ve gotta learn.”

Alabama and Missouri are scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday in Columbia. The game will be aired on the SEC Network.

General

Mark Sears, Grant Nelson vs. Auburn: The good and the bad

With the world of college basketball watching, facing the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, Alabama men’s basketball needed its stars to rise to the occasion.

They didn’t.

Mark Sears and Grant Nelson, two players who are no strangers to heroics on big stages, made some plays but ultimately fell short on multiple occasions in a a 94-85 loss to Auburn on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum.

There was some good in their performances. Nelson had a double-double: 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sears scored 18 points, a team-high. Both players also responded to their coach Nate Oats’ challenge to stop turning the ball over so much. Sears tallied two and Nelson had one against Auburn. Both have averaged more in SEC play.

The problem was, in a game where every possession mattered, both players had bad moments. And there wasn’t room for bad against a team as elite as Auburn.

Sears shot 4 of 17 overall, 2 of 11 from deep and 2 of 6 at the rim, per Alabama. “Not good,” Oats said of Sears’ shooting at the rim. Meanwhile, Nelson went 5 of 11 overall and 0 of 1 from deep as well as 5 of 10 at the rim.

Seeing two of your best players go 9 of 28 (32%) on the day isn’t going to be good enough to beat the best team in the country. And it wasn’t.

“We sure aren’t going to be perfect as coaches or players,” Oats said. “There’s probably some misreads in there. I have to go back and look at them. It wasn’t one of (Sears’) better shooting nights. When he did get it going there kind of in the middle of the second half, I thought his defensive intensity picked up. That’s when we made the run and tied it up. We’ve got to be able to play hard even when shots aren’t going. I think that’s a sign of high character guys. How hard do you play when shots aren’t dropping? Can you keep moving the ball?”

Ball movement was a problem the entire Crimson Tide offense had against the Tigers (23-2, 11-1 SEC). That wasn’t just a Sears problem. In fact, his two assists led the team on a day when Alabama (21-4, 10-2) had only eight.

Sears and Nelson’s struggles at the rim also weren’t just their problems. The entire team struggled with layups, finishing 14 of 30.

“We missed a lot of reads,” Oats said. “We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to move the ball better. We’ve got to be a little more unselfish moving forward.”

Sears and Nelson won’t be defined by one game. They have the track record to prove they can be two of the best players on any night. See Sears on the run to the Final Four, and Nelson dominating No. 1 seed UNC in the NCAA Tournament.

But now both fifth-year seniors must respond to performances that left much to be desired against Auburn. A gauntlet remains, and Alabama needs Sears and Nelson to play at a high level to make another deep run into March and early April.

“What we have right now is a chance to play again on Wednesday,” Oats said. “We’ve got to answer the bell”

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.

General

Watch as Auburn basketball players embrace former teammate Aden Holloway after Alabama win

Saturday afternoon was a monumental win for Auburn men’s basketball, beating No. 2 Alabama and solidifying its spot atop the AP poll.

It was also a chance for the players to reunite with an old teammate, facing off against Auburn-turned-Alabama guard Aden Holloway. It was Holloway’s first time facing Auburn since transferring, a unique opportunity for both sides.

“He’s a brother, always will be a brother. Obviously, he played here, so we have some familiarity about his game,” Auburn guard Denver Jones said before the game. “We know a little bit of how he plays; it’ll be fun playing against him again.”

On the court, Holloway had an average game against his former team, scoring 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field. Before and after the game, though, Holloway was able to reunite with his former teammates, and it was all smiles between them.

Below is a video of Holloway and Auburn’s players interacting and embracing after the game:

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

General

Goodman: Nate Oats takes shots at best player, but will it work?

This is an opinion column.

____________________

Alabama’s coach never holds back.

No matter what, Nate Oats is going to tell you exactly what’s on his mind. For that, reporters and fans love him. For his players, though, sometimes Oats’ honesty might go a little too far.

Take Saturday for example.

Auburn 94, Alabama 85 was the type of game that people remember for a long time. It was the first regular-season matchup in the history of the SEC between teams ranked one and two in the AP Poll. No.1 Auburn outworked No.2 Alabama at Coleman Coliseum.

Auburn gets the flowers this time, but for both teams it was historic stuff.

“That’s a Final Four-good team,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of his school’s principal rival.

Most analysts tend to agree, but, according to Oats, there are some major problems with the Crimson Tide’s leadership going into the final stretch of the season.

Oats is one of the best coaches in the country, so I’m going to assume that he knows what he’s doing, but publicly dogging star point guard Mark Sears on college basketball’s biggest stage of the season seemed like a high-stakes gamble that could backfire.

Did Alabama peak too soon? We’re about to find out.

Alabama plays six ranked teams to finish the regular season. For Oats, the answer to that riddle is clear.

“We got to have better leadership this year,” Oats said. “We’ll see what type of maturity and leadership we have.”

It was a direct shot at Sears, who Oats infamously benched earlier this season in a game against LSU.

Sears had another off night, shooting 4 of 17 from the field against Auburn. He was 2 of 11 from 3-point range. But was he the reason Alabama lost to Auburn? That feels like a stretch. His primary defender was Auburn’s Denver Jones, and Jones is no slouch. Pearl praised Jones afterwards as one of the best defenders in the country.

“How do you stay in front of Mark Sears?” Pearl said. “Nobody can and Denver Jones did. He needs to be on the Naismith All-Defensive Team.”

Sears is a proven veteran with Final Four experience. By any measure, he’s an excellent college basketball player and one of the best to ever play at Alabama. Oats is taking an unnecessary risk throwing post-game haymakers at his best player’s confidence.

“We’ve got to play hard when shots aren’t dropping,” Oats said. “It’s a sign of high character guys.”

Ouch.

But Oats wasn’t done.

How was Sears’ finishing at the rim?

“Not good,” Oats said. “Too much ISO…Too many bad shots.”

Auburn had just as many blocks as Alabama had assists in the first half (two). The second half wasn’t much better despite the Crimson Tide’s big run. In the end, Alabama finished with eight assists, a season low.

“The ball just wasn’t moving for the entire team,” Oats said.

It was all a motivational ploy aimed at Alabama’s senior guard. Will it work? Oats even suggested that maybe he should have benched Sears in the second half before acknowledging that the biggest game of the season probably wasn’t the best opportunity for a teaching moment. Oats benched Sears in the second half against lowly LSU. Against Auburn, Alabama had trouble keeping up with Auburn’s perimeter shooters. That wasn’t all on Sears, though. Auburn bigs Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson went 4 of 8 from distance.

“They’ve proven to be the best team in the country,” Oats said of Auburn. “We were not today.”

Alabama has a chance at redemption beginning with a game on Wednesday against No.21 Missouri. From there, Alabama finishes the season with games against No.15 Kentucky, No.22 Mississippi State, No.5 Florida, No.3 Tennessee and No.1 Auburn.

In football, the Iron Bowl at the end of the season determines everything. In basketball, with the way these two teams are playing, it’s not so simple.

Auburn 94, Alabama 85 on Saturday in Tuscaloosa was just an opening course. Hopefully the two best basketball teams in the country will play three more times this season.

If you’re counting, that’s once in Auburn at the end of the regular season, once in the championship game of the SEC tournament and then once again for a national championship in the NCAA Tournament.

I mean, if we’re going to take this Heart of Dixie basketball fantasy to the place of our wildest dreams, then we might as well go all the way to the edge and beyond.

The beginning was bitter for Bama, but things can turn quickly. Sears is the key to Alabama reaching the Final Four. Good thing for Oats, his senior point guard has already done it once.

BE HEARD

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”

General

How Auburn basketball’s guards accepted the challenge and dominated Alabama

Auburn basketball was far from perfect in its 94-85 victory over Alabama Saturday. But it was just enough to remain atop the SEC ladder.

The Tigers never trailed in the contest, leading by as many as 14 points inside Coleman Coliseum. Alabama fought back, tying the game twice. However, Auburn kept its composure, running the game at its own pace.

“Look, we like to play fast… and we like to shoot the three-ball, too. But I didn’t want a track meet,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame. “I thought our guys did a good job of just slowing it down.”

Auburn knew entering Saturday’s contest that the backcourt matchup would play a major factor in the game’s final decision.

In a first half that was mainly dominated by Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson, the late heroics of Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford helped secure the Tigers seventh road conference win.

The Tigers duo combined for 25 second half points. Jones drained three 3-pointers to start the second half, taking every shot he saw suitable.

“Honestly, I was just coming out aggressively. If I had an open look, I was taking it. I was just trusting myself and trusting my teammates,” Jones said. “I know my teammates believe in me. Then it’s just taking that shot, honestly.”

Pettiford’s only made 3-pointer came in the biggest moment of the game. Ater an Alabama run leading to a tie game; Pettiford silenced the raucous crowd giving the Tigers the lead in the final minutes.

His 13 total points were huge as he continues to shine on the biggest stages of collegiate hoops.

“Man, that just goes to show you how great of a player he is. Tahaad, he’s young, but he’s got a lot of things that you just can’t teach — and that’s one of them,” Jones said when talking about Pettiford. “He comes down, and he answers their 6-0 run. He comes down and sparks our run. That just goes to show you how important he is.”

As good as the Tigers guards were on offense, they were just as impressive on defense. Alabama only shot 19% from beyond the arc and held Mark Sears to just two made 3-pointers.

Sears and former Auburn guard Aden Holloway shot a combined 3-of-15 from 3-point land. Pearl raved about his team’s effort on defense, calling Denver Jones one of the best defensive players in college basketball.

“I don’t know when the media’s going to talk about him being one of the best defensive players in college basketball,” Pearl said. I mean, [Mark Sears] is one of the best players in college basketball. Period. And he did a great job on Mark. Made his catches tough, stayed down, stayed between him and the basket. You know, how do you stay in front of [Mark Sears]? Hardly anybody can. [Denver Jones] did, and nobody talked about it. He doesn’t have enough blocked shots, or he doesn’t have enough steals. He’s one of the best defensive players in college basketball. He needs to be on the Naismith All-Defensive team.”

With the Tigers hosting Arkansas in their next contest, that will present another elite backcourt matchup with the Razorbacks DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis.

As of now, Auburn’s backcourt showed why they deserve to be mentioned with the best.

If they are already not the best.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected].

General

Everything Bruce Pearl said after Auburn basketball’s win over No. 2 Alabama

Auburn men’s basketball scored a huge win Saturday, beating No. 2 Alabama 94-85 in Tuscaloosa, improving to 23-2 on the season and solidifying its No. 1 ranking.

Here’s everything head coach Bruce Pearl had to say after the win:

Opening statement

“I think the thing I’m proudest of is that all eyes of college basketball were on the state of Alabama and the SEC. What this conference has done in men’s basketball is historic. And, you know, you never know whether or not a game can live up to the hype.

We were very prepared. Coaches did a great job with the game plan. The kids executed early. You’ve got to play well early if you’re going to win on the road. We played well early. As you’d expected, Alabama came storming back, and the place was — I’ve never heard Coleman this loud.

But it was a really clean game. It was a really clean game, which I was pleased about. Nate talked to his team about that, because that’s how the No. 1 teams in the country should act. That’s how they should compete. That’s how they should play. I was really pleased with that.

I’m happy, because we have such balance. I’m happy for the kids from Alabama. This rivalry matters in the state, in every family. Every family’s divided. Every family’s got Auburn fans, and they’ve got Alabama fans. For Chaney and Denver, it was really big. And they both played really well. But I think the balance of our team was really significant.

Last thing I’m just going to say is this: Denver Jones was sitting right here. I would appreciate, you folks in the media — I don’t know when the media’s going to talk about him being one of the best defensive players in college basketball. And we’ll do the research for you. If you look at his matchups, night in and night out. I mean, Mark Sears is one of the best players in college basketball. Period. And, not that he did it by himself, but he did a great job on Mark. Made his catches tough, stayed down, stayed between him and the basket. You know, how do you stay in front of Mark Sears? Hardly anybody can. Denver Jones did, and nobody talked about it. He doesn’t have enough blocked shots, or he doesn’t have enough steals. He’s one of the best defensive players in college basketball. He needs to be on the Naismith All-Defensive team

On Auburn’s offensive success

“Alabama played drop and not hit back screens, and you’ve just got to bang shots behind them, and I thought our guys did. I thought our bigs set good screens. I thought we mixed up enough perimeter stuff where we could get clean looks with letting Chaney and Johni kind of go down in there and do some work. We had a nice balance of some inside out stuff.

I thought Denver played great tonight. The thing we’ve done with Denver again is just like — Denver go score. You’re a two-guard playing point, he’s doing an amazing job, now go score, that’s what you do. And as a result, the passes will become easy. Chad Baker-Mazara is a playmaker. He can score. He can shoot. He might look to make some tough passes, and he had a great assist-to-turnover ratio tonight.

On withstanding Alabama’s runs

We made eight of our last 10 field goals, that’s how you close out a game. I thought that Tahaad hit a big one in transition, wasn’t afraid to take that shot, kind of blew the lead up a little bit. Chad Baker-Mazara — we didn’t have much offense running, we were trying to get the ball inside, and I don’t know if the score was tied, it was pretty close — bang, he hits a three-ball just with some experience.

What our locker room feels good about right now is so many guys contributed. Chris Moore played seven minutes, was plus 17 — started for a banged-up Chad Baker-Mazara. So, when we talk about that lineup, and guys were all over Chris Moore. Everybody contributed. Dylan Cardwell fouls out and we lost one of our best defenders, we just didn’t panic. Late in the game, I am looking down and to say who — we got a couple guys fouled out… We managed.

On the runs to start both halves

I think what it does is it sends a message that we came here with the idea that we were going to try to win the game. We knew we’d have to play really well. We knew we’d have to bang shots. We knew we were going to get some clean looks. Every time you saw Miles Kelly or Denver coming off a screen — I’m sure they go, ‘Oh no.’ And I’m going, ‘Oh yeah.’ They’re open, they’re clean. They were great looks. You have to play well early on the road if you’re going to win, you have to win. Can’t give the home team any momentum.

On Chris Moore’s defensive impact

“He’s such a physical defender, he’s such a great teammate. He’s been in the program five years and the guys all love him. He’s one of the favorite guys in the locker room and he’s so unselfish. He got three open 3s and I want him to take those open shots, and he probably feels bad that he didn’t bang them. But again, that’s part of our chemistry, part of our culture.”

On potentially playing Alabama again

“Well, you know, you got one more time, I guess. That’s a Final Four good team. So, but there’s a long way to go. Just a long, long way to go. You look at our league with three number one’s, three teams on the one-line, a couple teams on the two-line.

Look for Texas A&M to jump in there like that in the Sweet Sixteen, and I don’t know. We just take them one at a time. We got Arkansas coming in on Wednesday. I am a big fan of making history and I do know that one-two’s are rare and we’ve got two road wins in the one-two matchup that I will cherish.”

On Pettiford and Baker-Mazara’s 3-pointers late

“You know, it’s interesting. I didn’t call timeout in that stretch, and there was nothing very intricate about either one of those buckets. The one that Chad Baker-Mazara shot was kind of midway late in the clock. I thought we did a good job — one of the things that we want to try to do is — look, we like to play fast. We don’t play as fast as Alabama, but we like to play fast. So, we had some breaks, and we scored 94 points. We like to play fast, and we like to shoot the 3-ball too.

But I didn’t want a track meet. So, there were times when I thought our guys did a good job of just running the offense. And we did a good job of just continuing to play through the inside. Neither one of those shots was anything brilliant offensively, Chad just pulls up, kind of with the clock running down. Nothing else is going on, makes a shot.

I think Tahaad’s, I think his was in transition and, you know, he was clean. And it’s one of those shots, ‘Well maybe you should run offense in that situation.’ Well, he was clean, he can make that shot, I thought that was a little bit of a dagger.”

On defending Alabama

“You just can’t leave them. You’ve got to make them put the ball down the floor, and we tried to do the best we could to be disciplined, stay on their shooters. They did a good job driving the ball to the basket, and I thought we did a pretty good job making them make tough 2s.”

On withstanding Alabama’s runs, again

“It says a lot about our resilience tonight, but we’ll see about Wednesday. I don’t know. I think there is something to the fact that they trust each other, they do. I thought we got fatigued in the second half, and did not guard with the same energy, multiple efforts. It hurt not having Dylan out there in the rotation, got a little thin. We managed.”

On Chaney Johnson’s performance

“There were two looks we put in that we thought we could get him an open shot. I think it said something to Chaney, like, ‘These are two looks for me to actually shoot it.’ He’ll get some shots on some inside-out, get a few things, but no. You’re going to bang a couple. And he knocked them down. I did the same thing with Johni, too. We got four 3s from those guys. Part of it was we dialed up a couple open shots.”

On Johni Broome playing through injury

“He sucked it up, he really did. He was tired early in the second half. You could tell he was dragging a little bit. I was worried we were going to run out of gas, especially with Dylan in foul trouble. But again, found a way, sucked it up, made history. Big win in here. But look, however many we’ve got left in the regular season, it’s just too early to talk about anything other than Arkansas on Wednesday.”

On Chad Baker-Mazara playing through injury

“Chad is so banged up, and I just wasn’t sure he was going to play tonight. He got hurt yesterday in practice. But he’s a gamer, and he’s got some toughness, and he’s got some real skill. He knows how to play and he’s such a great passer. He’s a dangerous player. I’ve got to go look at that. Obviously, we don’t want that extra whatever to happen, obviously they got tangled up. The time and score, that wasn’t timely.”

On getting looks for Johni Broome

We didn’t do anything too terribly fancy. We just gave him the ball, and they don’t double. They thought they could play him one-on-one, and they did a pretty good job on him. He missed nine shots, he made seven or eight. He had his double-double, and it was enough to get it done.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m

General

3-point shooting was bad, but Alabama had a bigger problem against Auburn

To guard Chris Youngblood, the answer to the question was simple. That made the problem all the more infuriating.

No. 2 Alabama men’s basketball struggled to make layups all day against No. 1 Auburn. What should in theory be one of the easier and more efficient shots to make was anything but for one of the country’s top offenses. Alabama finished 14 of 30 at the rim in a 94-85 loss to the Tigers on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum.

The shooting from beyond the arc could have been much better. Alabama finished 5 of 26 from deep, a paltry 19%. But the Crimson Tide’s three-point problems could have been overcome if it had made its layups.

So, what could have been done differently at the rim?

“It might sound a little petty,” Youngblood said, “but make the layups.”

The comment wasn’t meant to be snippy or rude. Youngblood was right. Alabama’s problem wasn’t complex or some puzzle that can’t be solved. The Crimson Tide (21-4, 10-2 SEC) just struggled to finish on a day where it could ill-afford to squander prime opportunities.

“We missed a lot of reads,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to move the ball better. We’ve got to be a little more unselfish moving forward.”

Mark Sears went 2-for-6 at the rim. Mouhamed Dioubate finished 4 of 9. Aden Holloway was 1 of 3. Grant Nelson was 5 of 10. That’s how Alabama charted each player on layups.

Auburn deserves some credit. The Tigers had the No. 17 defense in adjusted defensive efficiency entering the game, per KenPom. And that defense gave Alabama some problems. Especially near the rim.

“We didn’t make great rim reads, but they got us off the three-point line,” Oats said. “Pushed us in. Made big plays at the rim.”

Auburn blocked six shots. Johni Broome, a national player of the year candidate for the Tigers, tallied two of those. It was part of an overall defensive effort that limited the nation’s No. 2 offense in adjusted efficiency to 1.076 points per possession. That’s not near the number Alabama wants or of what it’s capable.

The 3-pointers, or lack thereof, are an easy issue at which to point for why Alabama lost to Auburn. But the issues making layups belong higher on the list of problems.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.

General

As Elon Musk, DOGE dive into NASA spending Katie Britt says Redstone Arsenal is critical

Elon Musk’s DOGE staff wasted no time since arriving at NASA this week, analyzing workforce data and, according to a top space agency official, pledging a deep-dive audit of spending and contracts.

But Musk’s work may also force a showdown with Republican legislators whose districts benefit from NASA, especially the $93 billion Artemis program aimed at putting American boots back on the moon.

Musk’s DOGE review at NASA is in its early stages and it’s not yet clear how deep or sweeping any changes will be. It’s a measure of this political moment that Musk, whose company SpaceX has billions of dollars of contracts with NASA, is now rooting through its books for waste.

To critics including Musk, Artemis, which has been riddled with cost overruns and technical delays for years, is a powerful emblem of government inefficiency. DOGE’s slash-and-burn track record at other U.S. agencies and Musk’s criticism of Artemis are reasons NASA employees are bracing for change.

Here’s another: President Donald Trump has picked billionaire SpaceX investor and astronaut Jared Isaacman to run NASA. Isaacman has criticized cost overruns and technical delays with Artemis and the Boeing-built rocket underpinning it.

The growing speculation gripping Washington that an Artemis shake-up is coming is forcing Republicans to choose between their allegiance to the Trump administration and their support of a program that props up tens of thousands of home-state jobs — setting the stage for a major budget battle in Congress.

A number of GOP lawmakers are rallying around the program, warning that cutting Artemis would put the U.S. in a weaker position in its space race with China. Beijing plans on sending its astronauts to the moon for the first time by the end of the decade.

“The first thing we need to do is establish what’s in the best interest of the United States of America, and that is beating the Communist Party back to the lunar surface,” Texas Republican Brian Babin, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, told a conference in Washington on Feb. 12.

“The only way that’s going to happen at any time soon is with Artemis,” he said.

A NASA spokesperson confirmed DOGE workers are at the agency and referred all further questions to DOGE. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“They are going to look — similarly to what they’ve done at other agencies — at our payments,” NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro told reporters on Wednesday. Department of Government Efficiency personnel have already mapped NASA’s management and employee structure, including average age, tenure and salaries.

Launched by NASA during Trump’s first term, Artemis is expected to cost $93 billion by 2025 and has only flown a single mission, making it an obvious target for cost-cutters. NASA has delayed the first moon mission with astronauts several times, most recently announcing in December that the landing on the lunar surface won’t take place until 2027.

Despite the program’s setbacks, Congress has funneled billions of dollars to the program for years, in part to protect local economies.

Development of Boeing’s Space Launch System rocket and Lockheed Martin Corp’s Orion crew capsule supports tens of thousands of jobs in Republican-controlled states like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

“The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient,” Musk posted on his X social-media platform in December. “It is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed.”

Musk’s SpaceX though plays a key role in Artemis, building a lunar lander under a multibillion-dollar NASA contract.

Even if DOGE doesn’t suggest sweeping changes to the Artemis program, Trump’s incoming political appointees could also be the ones to dismantle NASA’s moon program through discussions with the Office of Management and Budget. It will ultimately come down to Congress — which funds NASA — to approve of any proposed changes to specific programs.

Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who is chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told the same Washington conference on Feb. 12 he plans on reintroducing a NASA Authorization bill “very soon” that will mandate no changes to Artemis for at least a year.

But under the new administration, a historic shift might be underway as Republican lawmakers fall in line with Trump and his agenda. While some lawmakers like Cruz and Babin are still championing NASA’s marquee moon mission, others are embracing Musk’s efforts to shrink the U.S. government, even if it comes at the cost of jobs in their constituencies.

“I think that his involvement is great,” said Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, in an interview. ”I think we ought to figure out how to do things the most efficient way we can.”

Streamlining the Artemis program should include cuts at NASA, according to Florida’s Mike Haridopolos, a freshman GOP representative whose district includes the Kennedy Space Center.

“I’m a space supporter proudly, but remember when we have a $2 trillion budget shortfall, there’s going to be reductions in workforce,” he said. “The president has given a lot of people a lot of parachutes to get out and that’s going to include people at NASA.”

Some lawmakers caught in the middle, like Sen. Katie Britt, are treading delicately between their two priorities. The Artemis program employs roughly 22,000 people in Alabama, many of them concentrated at the Redstone Arsenal Army base near Huntsville.

“Obviously President Trump and his team, we’re going to be taking a look across the board at where we can do things better and more efficiently,” Britt said. “But I have every faith that the work that is done there at Redstone Arsenal is not only critical to our nation’s defense, but to future exploration.”

(Loren Grush contributed to this report.)

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