The Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide are two of the best basketball teams in the entire nation, and each team earned massive road victories over the weekend on the road against quality conference opponents.
Alabama was able to bounce back from a brutal home loss last week against Ole Miss to go on the road at one of the most difficult places to play in the country – Rupp Arena in Lexington – and beat the top-ten ranked Kentucky Wildcats in a hard fought 102-97 win.
Auburn on the other hand was trying to hold onto their No. 1 status which they earned in last week’s rankings, but a road game against a ranked Georgia team still without their star Johni Broome. In a back and forth thriller, the Tigers came away with a 70-68 win.
Grant Nelson led the way for Alabama with one of the best games of his career, scoring 25 points and pulling down 11 rebounds:
Grant Nelson showed out on the road against No. 8 Kentucky:
▪️ 25 PTS
▪️ 7-13 FG
▪️ 11 REB pic.twitter.com/eOjX12VPjJ— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) January 18, 2025
Mark Sears was outstanding as well, scoring 24 points and having nine assists as well:
Mark Sears against No. 8 Kentucky:
▪️ 24 PTS
▪️ 9 AST pic.twitter.com/ruX3z01AJg— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) January 18, 2025
For Auburn, it was freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford who had the big day with 24 points while Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly added 13 points each:
Tahaad Pettiford comes off the bench and puts up a career-high on the road against Georgia 🔥
24 PTS | 7-13 FG | 5-7 3PT pic.twitter.com/wE0J06d00E
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) January 18, 2025
The Tigers will almost certainly hold onto their No. 1 rankings while the Tide is poised to remain within the top-ten even after dropping the game against Ole Miss.
The 15-3 Crimson Tide has a relatively manageable schedule this week with two home games against Vanderbilt and LSU while the 17-1 Tigers are off during the week ahead of the massive showdown at home this weekend against Tennessee.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
