Coach Steven Pearl’s first “Iron Bowl of Basketball” ended the same way his father’s did: with the Alabama Crimson Tide earning a win on the Auburn Tigers‘ home court.
Led by another impressive game from Labaron Philon, who scored 25 points to go with five rebounds and six assists, Alabama erased a 10-point deficit to win its second straight game at Auburn, 96-92.
Amari Allen added 17 points for the Crimson Tide, and Aden Holloway had 15 points. The Tide have won three of the series’ past four meetings at Neville Arena.
Alabama (16-7 overall, 6-4 SEC) took its first lead of the second half on a pair of Aiden Sherrell free throws that were part of an 11-0 Crimson Tide run with 13 minutes to play. Coach Nate Oats’ team also used an 8-0 run with nine minutes left that put Alabama ahead 71-65.
Auburn (14-9, 5-5) cut the lead to one with four minutes to go and never went away. Alabama, though, shot 87 percent from the charity stripe. The Tide missed only two shots from the free-throw line in the second half. They outscored the Tigers, 59-51, in the game’s final 20 minutes.
Less than a year after the Alabama and Auburn met in the SEC’s first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, neither team was ranked in the top 25 polls entering Saturday.
But Alabama-Auburn is always a big deal regardless of the sport, and both teams are virtual locks for the NCAA Tournament as the calendar moves closer to March.
After Saturday’s game, Auburn coach Steven Pearl met with reporters to discuss his team’s loss to the Crimson Tide. Here’s what the first-year Tigers head coach said about Alabama.
Steven Pearl reflects on Auburn’s loss to Alabama basketball
“First 18 minutes, did a great job defending them and did a lot of things that we wanted them to do. They were shooting tough, contested 2’s, which is what the scouting report was. I thought those last two minutes of the first half when we gave up three 3’s was a huge momentum swing in the game because that gave them the confidence that they needed to know that they could knock down those shots. It carried over into the second half.”
Steven Pearl says Auburn defense ‘unacceptable’ in loss to Alabama
“For them to score 59 points, it was unacceptable of our defense and that’s on me as their job. I’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to do a better job with our one-on-one defense. Got to have way more pride in being able to sit down and guard our man. The guy to my right (freshman forward Sebastian Williams-Adams) is really the only one who does that at a high, high level every single night. Everyone else is capable of doing it, but we’ve got to be able to do it more consistently. And if a freshman can do it every single possession, I need my better players to be able to do the same thing.
“So that was the difference in the game. (Alabama) made tough one-on-one plays in the second half and we got out of character defensively. Let them get to their right hands. We stood up a couple of times. We didn’t contest a couple shots. We… just got a little out of character from what worked in the first 18 minutes. Ultimately, it gave them the confidence to go out there and do a lot of really good things offensively.
“So, credit to (Alabama) because they made those tough shots. You know, we scored 92 points. We’ve got to be able to win that game scoring 92 points. Has nothing to do with our offense. It has everything to do with our defense, and our defense has got to get better.”
What changed in final two minutes of first half as Alabama basketball made game-changing run against Auburn?
Auburn led, 36-26, with just over two minutes to play in the first half. Alabama went on an 11-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers from Houston Mallette and one from Taylor Bol Bowen to make it a four-point game, 41-37 at intermission.
Pearl said of the final minutes of the first half:
“We talked about, at the 3:00 mark, we’ve got to finish with three perfect checkouts. Very next possession, we get lost and we don’t check out Mallette, and he gets the offensive rebound, kicks out, and bangs a 3. The next possession, we help off the strong side corner, and that was one of the rules: never help off the strong side corner. We actually did the first play, too. And then another 3. Then we lay out a screen in transition. Not supposed to do that. Supposed to body over the top of the screens. We lay on it, we go underneath, we yell at the referee for a foul. They bang another 3.
“So, just mental breakdowns and things that we talked about trying not to do. I understand that it’s going to happen every once in a while, but it can’t happen three straight possessions and that’s what ultimately allowed (Alabama) to cut it from 10 to four and to have confidence going into the second half.”
Steven Pearl on the officiating in Alabama-Auburn game
Pearl was asked by a reporter about Auburn attempting only 22 foul shots in Saturday’s loss to Alabama, which attempted just 23 itself. Were the officials not calling enough fouls?
Pearl said:
“We took 43 two-point attempts. I thought we attacked the paint pretty hard. I’ve got to watch the film and see if there were some possessions where we didn’t get fouls, but no, I thought we did a pretty good job of attacking the rim, playing off two, and trying to finish with contact. I’ll have to watch the film and kind of see if it should have been more. I’m not really sure.”
Steven Pearl describes Alabama guard Aden Holloway’s surge in closing minutes vs Auburn
Holloway had nine of his 15 points in the game’s final two-plus minutes.
Pearl said of the former Auburn guard that transferred to Alabama in 2024:
“It was like a two-point game and I told our guys that a wide pin down was coming, and we’re standing straight up out of our stance and getting nailed on the pin down. And then we foul a 3-point shooter. Just unacceptable. Can’t do that if you want to win basketball games. And then, he hit a really tough one on I think it was pretty good defense. Made a tough two the same way he did against A&M, but the previous possession when you allow him an open 3 and he makes it, that then gives you the confidence to go out there and make a tough shot on the next possession.
“Just too casual, too lackadaisical, and we got burned on it. (Holloway) made a lot of big plays late and obviously got to the free-throw line and made his free throws. So, he was a huge difference late for them in making some tough shots.”
Social media reacts to Alabama’s Iron Bowl road win vs. Auburn https://t.co/n7cD8E1BcUpic.twitter.com/J4aDKXbpvI
— Roll Tide Wire (@RollTideWire) February 8, 2026
‘That’s the difference in the game,’ Steven Pearl says of Charles Bediako’s impact for Alabama in win over Auburn
Bediako had 12 points and three rebounds in 22 minutes for Alabama in its win over Auburn. Pearl was asked about Bediako’s impact on the game and said:
“He had a huge impact. He changes what they do offensively because he’s a guy that can catch balls in the air and go finish at the rim. They don’t have anyone else that can do that, at least with that athleticism.
“He can catch lobs and finish at the rim. He did a great job and played really well for them. That’s the difference in the game right there. You know, 12 points and three rebounds, and he did a good job of occupying us on the offensive glass. So yeah, he played great and he makes that team better.
“With him, their ceiling is a hell of a lot higher than without him. I think we knew their guards were going to be effective. But he was a major difference in the game having 12 points off the bench.”
Auburn basketball coach Steven Pearl talks about the difficulty of slowing down Alabama guard Labaron Philon
“Sebastian did an unbelievable job of guarding (Philon). I thought two of his 3’s were just heavily contested step-backs. That’s going to happen sometimes. He’s an unebelievable player. He’s going to be a first-round draft pick. He does those types of things. The parts that we’ve got to be able to control is, we close out to him (but) we let him drive it right. You just can’t do that because he’s just too good of a player going downhill to his right and he’ll take full advantage of it.
“(Philon) just plays with great tempo and great pace. He’s physical offensively and just did a great job for them tonight. Made some tough ones, but I think some of our closeouts, which we talked about being really important in this game, weren’t disciplined enough. If (Williams-Adams) wasn’t guarding him, then he was having a lot of success.”
Watch the full postgame press conference below.
Alabama basketball schedule: When do the Crimson Tide play next?
Alabama will face the Ole Miss Rebels (11-12, 3-7) Wednesday in Oxford. Tipoff for Alabama-Ole Miss is 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
Here’s a game by game look at Alabama’s 2025-26 men’s basketball schedule.
All start times Central.
- Nov. 3: vs. North Dakota (W, 91-62)
- Nov. 8: at St. John’s (W, 103-96)
- Nov. 13: vs. Purdue (L, 87-80)
- Nov. 19: vs. Illinois (W, 90-86)
- Nov. 24: vs. Gonzaga (L, 95-85)
- Nov. 25: vs. UNLV (W, 115-76)
- Nov. 26: vs. Maryland (W, 105-72)
- Dec. 3: vs. Clemson (W, 90-84)
- Dec. 7: vs. UTSA (W, 97-55)
- Dec. 13: vs. Arizona (L, 96-75)
- Dec. 17: vs. South Florida (W, 104-93)
- Dec. 21: vs. Kennesaw State (W, 92-81)
- Dec. 29: vs. Yale (W, 102-78)
- Jan. 3: vs. Kentucky (W, 89-74)
- Jan. 7: at Vanderbilt (L, 96-90)
- Jan. 10: vs. Texas (L, 92-88)
- Jan. 13: at Mississippi State (W, 97-82)
- Jan. 17: at Oklahoma (W, 83-81)
- Jan. 24: vs. Tennessee (L, 79-73)
- Jan. 27: vs. Missouri (W, 90-64)
- Feb. 1: at Florida (L, 100-77)
- Feb. 4: vs. Texas A&M (W, 100-97)
- Feb. 7: at Auburn (W, 96-92)
- Feb. 11: at Ole Miss, 6 p.m., SEC Network
- Feb. 14: vs. South Carolina, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
- Feb. 18: vs. Arkansas, 6 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPNU
- Feb. 21: at LSU, 5 p.m., SEC Network
- Feb. 25: vs. Mississippi State, ESPN2 or ESPNU
- Feb. 28: at Tennessee, ESPN or ESPN2
- March 3: at Georgia, 5:30 p.m., ESPNews
- March 7: vs. Auburn, 7:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Overall: 16-7.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Auburn coach Steven Pearl speaks out after loss to Alabama basketball