Tuscaloosa, AL(EETV)- The fourth-ranked Auburn Tigers will go on the road tomorrow night to face their in-state rival Alabama in their first meeting of the SEC season.
Still unbeaten, the Tigers will look to get one step closer to the program's best start since 1998/99 when they went 17-0 before losing to Kentucky.
All signs point to another Auburn victory, but they will face a Crimson Tide team that has put things together after starting the season 2-4 through their first six games. Alabama started their SEC season with close losses at Florida and Kentucky and a home victory against Mississippi St.
Head coach Bruce Pearl spoke about their opponent in his Tuesday press conference saying, "Im impressed what Coach Oats is doing over at Alabama. They are one of the fastest teams in the country, they play with freedom, and they are the best three-point shooting team in our league."
The Crimson Tide are led by junior point guard John Petty Jr. who is playing some of his best basketball right now. Petty is averaging 16.7 points per game and is shooting 48.8% from the field.
Sophmore Kira Lewis Jr. is another player the Tigers will have to deal with as he has had a solid start to his season averaging 16.2 points per game with 10 blocks and 28 steals.
For Auburn, they struggled to find their rythm in games until Saturday when they put together on of their best preformances of the season with an 82-60 victory over a talented Georgia squad.
Auburn's starting five has made the biggest impact, but the contributions of their bench play has been big for them. Anfernee McLemore and Alan Flanigan were both in double-digits against Georgia as the bench would score 34 points in total.
The defense has been a big contributor to their sucess as they have been able to create turnovers and turn them into points. The Tigers held Georgia to just 38% from the field and 28% from three-point range.
Auburn's freshman star Isaac Okoro has continued to play a big role for the Tigers as he is shooting 56.5% from the field and is averaging 13 points per game.
Okoro scored a career high 23 points against Vanderbilt including a monster dunk which made the Sportscenter Top 10 plays. This week he was listed in the top 4 of the NBA Draft Board. Okoro spoke about that in Tuesday's press conference saying, "I don't focus on that during the season, it's about trying to go out and make history."
The Tigers come into tomorrow's game as a three point favorite according to Ceasar's Sportsbook. Wednesday’s game will tip-off at 8pm and will be telivised on ESPN2. Auburn will go to Gainsville on Saturday to face the Florida Gators before coming home next Wednesday to play South Carolina.
