Sears leads Alabama against No. 8 Auburn after 22-point performance

Auburn Tigers (16-2, 5-0 SEC) at Alabama Crimson Tide (12-6, 4-1 SEC)

Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Alabama takes on the No. 8 Auburn Tigers after Mark Sears scored 22 points in Alabama’s 91-71 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Crimson Tide have gone 8-1 at home. Alabama is 1-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Tigers have gone 5-0 against SEC opponents. Auburn ranks ninth in the SEC with 24.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Johni Broome averaging 5.8.

Alabama makes 48.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 11.1 percentage points higher than Auburn has allowed to its opponents (37.8%). Auburn has shot at a 47.3% clip from the field this season, 4.4 percentage points greater than the 42.9% shooting opponents of Alabama have averaged.

The matchup Wednesday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Sears is averaging 19.8 points, 3.6 assists and 1.5 steals for the Crimson Tide.

Broome is averaging 15.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks for the Tigers.

LAST 10 GAMES: Crimson Tide: 6-4, averaging 85.2 points, 38.4 rebounds, 15.6 assists, 6.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.9 points per game.

Tigers: 10-0, averaging 85.3 points, 37.5 rebounds, 17.9 assists, 8.7 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.1 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.