Alabama kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive with a thrilling last-second win over Texas A&M on Thursday. The Crimson Tide will look to build off the momentum and add another win over a ranked opponent to their resume when they face No. 16 Auburn on Friday in an SEC Tournament quarterfinal in St. Louis.
"I'm as proud of them as I've been since I've been here at Alabama for obvious reasons," Crimson Tide coach Avery Johnson said after freshman guard Collin Sexton hit a floater at the buzzer to beat Texas A&M. "They fought hard. They responded to adversity. We got stuck against their zone in the second half, but they just persevered ...
"Take your hats off to our team. They were strong mentally. They showed some maturity."
Sexton had 27 points against the Aggies, including the game-winner, and is averaging a team-high 18.3 points per game for the season. He had 25 points Alabama's most recent meeting with Auburn, a 90-71 Tigers win two weeks ago.
"We didn't play our best game at Auburn," Johnson said.
Auburn landed the tournament's top seed by winning a share of the SEC regular-season title despite being picked to finish ninth in the preseason media poll and losing key players Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley for the season because of eligibility concerns. The Tigers also lost contributor Anfernee McLemore to injury late in the season.
Coach Bruce Pearl's squad overcame it all and heads into the conference tournament with a chip on its shoulder.
No Tigers were selected to the All-SEC first team. According to auburntigers.com, it's the first time since 1956, when the coaches began voting on an All-SEC team, that the regular-season champion did not have a player on the first team.
"This just keeps that chip on our shoulder," guard Bryce Brown said. "That is the reason I wasn't too disappointed that they didn't pick us first team. They just added fuel to the fire for Mustapha and for me and Jared and for all of my other teammates that were left off.
"They are going to keep doubting us. Others feel like we should have been higher on the list of 16. Mustapha should have definitely been on there. That is not even a question. That just adds fuel to the fire for us.
"We are just going to keep going hard, keeping that chip on our shoulder. Like I said, it is just beginning right here. I feel like this is going to start something even more special for us."
Pearl said, "I don't think any of us would trade any championship for any individual award," Pearl said. "I just know we wouldn't."
Alabama got freshman forward Herb Jones back in the lineup for the SEC Tournament. Jones had missed the majority of the last two games with an injury.
"There are not many teams in the country that can get a player back for a tournament game the caliber of Herb Jones," Johnson said. "Six points, two blocks, three steals -- he does a lot for us."
