AUBURN, Ala. – Wendell Green Jr. scored 24 points, but Auburn missed nine straight shots down the stretch and lost to No. 3 Alabama 77-69 Saturday at Neville Arena.
"Auburn doesn't like to lose to Alabama," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "We put ourselves in position again to win the game. We didn't make shots at times. The last six minutes or so, our defense in the second half wasn't as good as it was in the first half."
The Tigers led for nearly 25 minutes, but Green's 3-pointer with 6:12 to play accounted for Auburn's last lead.
Auburn held Alabama leading scorer Brandon Miller, who was 0-for-7 on 3-pointers, to 13 points, six below his average.
The visitors made 82.1 percent (23-28) of their 2-point attempts, leading to an insurmountable 44-20 advantage in points in the paint.
"We chose to not come off shooters and make them beat us from two, and they did," Pearl said. "They got downhill. We did a pretty good job on Brandon, a good job guarding him from 3 but they've got a lot of weapons."
Auburn won the turnover battle, forcing 14 while committing only 11, leading to 17-9 Tiger lead in points off turnovers.
The Tigers made 22 of 26 free throws, an 84.6-percent clip. Green and Jaylin Williams made all seven of Auburn's 3-pointers.
Williams scored 14 in the first half to pace the Tigers, hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers. Green and K.D. Johnson each added eight points, with Green making a pair of 3-pointers and Johnson going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
"Early they were sagging off a little bit, giving me a little too much space on the catch-and-stick," Williams said. "We've got to finish through contact."
Johnson's jumper gave Auburn an early eight-point lead but Alabama shot 80 percent on 2-point attempts in the half and outscored the Tigers 24-6 in the paint to equal the score at 37-all at halftime.
Williams added two points in the second half to finish with 16. Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and zero turnovers in 26 minutes. Johni Broome contributed eight points and nine rebounds.
Rylan Griffen scored 16 points off the bench to lead Alabama (22-3, 12-0). Mark Sears scored 15 and Jaden Bradley added 12.
Auburn led 57-52 at the 9:35 mark after Johni Broome's two free throws, but Sears scored seven points in a 9-2 Alabama run to put his team ahead 61-59.
After Green's final 3-pointer gave Auburn a 62-61 lead, Griffen hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer in a 40-second span that put Alabama ahead to stay.
Auburn (17-8, 7-5) remains at Neville Arena Tuesday vs. Missouri at 6 p.m. CT.
"We've got some games coming up this week that we need to win," Pearl said. "The mindset is how quickly can we learn from the plays that we didn't make that are continuing to cost us from winning on both ends of the floor.
"We need to play better. We need to make plays. We need more guys to step up. I've got to do a better job. We need all that."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
