Alabama

A few bonus thoughts, observations from an Alabama-Auburn stunner

Published

9 months ago

March 9, 2025

A few bonus thoughts, observations from an Alabama-Auburn stunner

Full disclosure: It’s late Saturday night. Everyone in this house is asleep except for the guy whose fingerprint unlocks the laptop and can’t sleep until writing a little more about what we saw today.

This is March.

That’s both the social media reminder of the madness and my headline from last Saturday’s introduction to the mayhem. It was a column about Alabama’s soul-sucking, buzzer-beating loss at Tennessee. Regular season losses don’t get much more impactful either on the standings or the soul.

It was enough to give Auburn the outright SEC championship, feed online trolling and give AU Athletics the lead time to print league title towels for this Saturday’s visit from Alabama.

So there was something full circle about Crimson Tide players getting pelted by the softest projectile — one printed as a clear and justifiable taunt — after it beat the buzzer to stun the suddenly angry home crowd.

The 93-91 Alabama win in Neville Arena was one for the ages. It was enough to stir some insomnia writing so here are a few bonus thoughts and observations from the final Saturday of a historic regular season. First, a few on the final play.

— Can we appreciate the fact Alabama won this one by defying the analytics? Nate Oats wants a shot at the rim or from 3, so the fact Mark Sears’ mid-range runner was the signature moment is … something.

— It’s also fitting that the two best players on the floor made the closing statements for their respective teams. Johni Broome’s 3-pointer tied the game seconds before Sears’ runner ended it. Those statements followed two completely different games for both. Broome was the straw that stirred Auburn’s drink with 34 points on 15-for-28 shooting. Sears finished with just nine points as Auburn locked him down almost all game. He managed just nine shots. Only five times this season did he shoot it fewer times while his shot count’s been as high as 24 (Wednesday against Florida).

— There’s something to say about how great Auburn’s defense was on Sears … until the final seconds. Nothing was easy at any point in the day for Sears but the best ball-handler/top scorer got a largely undisturbed shot at the buzzer? A horrible time for a breakdown for one of the elite defenses nationally.

— The final moment of overtime was quite different from the final sequence of the first half. Sears found no daylight with Denver Jones playing tighter than his shadow. A rushed 3-pointer never had a chance as the shot clock expired. It was a demoralizing end to an otherwise fruitful first half.

— This game was a classic regardless of your affiliation. The first game between the two was a dud if you like good theater. Auburn jumped to that 9-0 lead and never trailed. It was only tied twice and the Tigers pulled away both times with the lead swelling as high as 14 points. This time, the game was tied 10 times, lead swapped hands 13 times and nobody led by more than eight points. They traded punches all afternoon and one team won it as opposed to the other team blowing it.

— Let’s also talk about the crimson crane and it’s indelible place in this basketball rivalry. Born on the football field and coopted by the basketball counterparts, Auburn’s used it to mock Alabama. That included after the February beating of the Tide in Coleman Coliseum. So the moment Grant Nelson (of all people) dropped it on Broome in the first half really injected some energy into this one. Bruce Pearl lost his mind trying to recreate it for the referees in a plea for a T, but no dice. The Auburn radio crew also verbally disagreed with the lack of a penalty but, from my perspective, it’s all fair game in a rivalry like this. You better believe there would be cranes all over the floor if Auburn won it so, fair play, you give and receive. This time, Nelson wrote a check that he certainly cashed.

— Almost lost in the shuffle was the performance of Labaron Philon. His pickpocket of fellow star freshman Tahaad Pettiford in overtime led to a tiebreaking layup with 2:10 to play. He also calmly hit a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left to put the Tide up 3. The former 5-star (and one-time Auburn commit) scored 15 points in his seventh double-figure scoring performance in the last eight games.

— Lost even further was the offensive outing by Clifford Omoruyi. His 15 points came one shy of a season high and was three better than his previous best against SEC competition. The Rutgers transfer was 7-for-7 shooting. That was his 14th game this season in which he didn’t miss a shot but he previously topped out at 6-for-6 against a completely overmatched UNC Ashville team. The big crimson dog did this against one of the more physically intimidating front lines in the sport and he had at least two poster dunks.

— There’s not much more to add on the Chad Baker-Mazara ejection for the cheap shot elbow. The veteran is a great asset when his emotion feeds Auburn runs but this isn’t the first time that adrenaline redlined and cost the Tigers.

— Alabama had been keeping the turnovers under control recently. It had just six Wednesday against Florida before ballooning to 15 on Saturday. The Tigers forced just six in the first meeting but Neville Arena has a way of speeding opponents up and forcing mistakes. Those giveaways led to 20 Auburn points while the Tide scored just 10 off the nine Auburn turnovers.

— The Crimson Tide didn’t attempt a 3-pointer for the first 5:30. That’s a testament to Auburn’s perimeter defense considering Alabama attempts the sixth-most 3-pointers in the nation (29.6 a game). Alabama finished 7-for-22 from long range. That’s the fifth fewest attempts and sixth fewest makes of Alabama’s season.

— The visitors made up for the lack of production from deep by making 62% of its 2-point shots. It outscored the Tigers 52-40 in the paint while making 18 of 30 shots taken around the rim.

— With Alabama winning, it lessened the chances of a rematch with Auburn in the SEC tournament. The Tide now gets the No. 3 seed, meaning the two couldn’t meet before the league championship. A loss would have sent Alabama to the No. 4 seed, meaning the two would have to win just one game apiece to reunite in the semifinals on Saturday in Nashville.

That’s enough for now.

The fever dream of March basketball is really about to get trippy so it’s time for some sleep. That was perhaps the greatest roundball meeting of these two blood rivals when you consider the pure theater of the full 45 minutes.

That shouldn’t be lost in any of this.

So good night, hope you slept tight, because it’s about to get real now that we’re looking at brackets.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

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Alabama

Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones launches campaign for Alabama governor

Published

5 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones launches campaign for Alabama governor

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, kicked off his campaign for governor Friday, saying voters deserve a choice and a leader who will put aside divisions to address the state’s pressing needs.

“With your help we can finish what we began. We can build the Alabama we’ve always deserved,” Jones told a packed crowd at a Birmingham campaign rally featuring musician Jason Isbell.

He said the state has urgent economic, health care and educational issues that are not being addressed by those in public office.

The campaign kickoff came on the eighth anniversary of Jones’ stunning 2017 win over Republican Roy Moore, and Jones said Alabama proved back then that it can defy “simplified labels of red and blue.”

“You stood up and you said something simple but powerful. We can do better,” Jones said. “You said with your votes that our values, Alabama values, are more important than any political party, any personality, any prepackaged ideology.”

His entry into the race sets up a possible rematch with Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who defeated Jones by 20 points in 2020 and is also now running for governor. Both will have party primaries in May before the November election.

Before running for office, Jones, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney, was best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for Birmingham’s infamous 1963 church bombing.

Former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and gubernatorial candidate speaks during an event Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson

In an interview with The Associated Press, Jones said families are having a hard time with things like health care, energy bills and simply making ends meet.

“People are struggling,” he said. “They are hurting.”

Jones used part of his speech to describe his agenda if elected governor. He said it is time for Alabama to join most states in establishing a state lottery and expanding Medicaid. Expanding Medicaid, he said, will protect rural hospitals from closure and provide health care coverage to working families and others who need it.

He criticized Tuberville’s opposition to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. Jones said many Alabama families depend on those subsides to buy health insurance “to keep their families healthy.”

Former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and gubernatorial candidate speaks during... — Former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., and gubernatorial candidate speaks during an event Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson

Alabama has not elected a Democratic governor since Don Siegelman in 1998. In 2020, Tuberville held Jones to about 40% of the vote, which has been the ceiling for Alabama Democrats in recent statewide races.

Retired political science professor Jess Brown said Jones lost in 2020 despite being a well-funded incumbent, and that’s a sign that he faces an uphill battle in 2026.

“Based on what I know today, at this juncture of the campaign, I would say that Doug Jones, who’s a very talented and bright man, is politically the walking dead,” Brown said.

Jones acknowledged being the underdog and said his decision to run stemmed in part from a desire for Tuberville not to coast into office unchallenged.

Jones pointed to recent Democratic victories in Georgia, Mississippi and other locations as cause for optimism.

Tuberville, who previously headed up the football program at Auburn University, had “no record except as a football coach” when he first ran, Jones said. And “now there are five years of being a United States senator. There are five years of embarrassing the state.”

Jones continued to question Tuberville’s residency, saying he “doesn’t even live in Alabama, and if he does, then prove me wrong.” Tuberville has a beach house in Walton County, Florida, but has repeatedly said Auburn is his home.

Tuberville’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously noted that he defeated Jones handily in 2020. Tuberville spent part of Friday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Huntsville to mark the official relocation of U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.

Jones’ 2017 victory renewed the hopes, at least temporarily, of Democratic voters in the Deep South state. Those gathered to hear him Friday cheered his return to the political stage.

“I’m just glad that there’s somebody sensible getting in the race,” Angela Hornbuckle said. “He proved that he could do it as a senator.”

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Alabama

Alabama Shakes Set Spring 2026 Tour Dates

Published

17 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Alabama Shakes Set Spring 2026 Tour Dates

Alabama Shakes have lined up a string of North American tour dates for 2026. Brittany Howard and the band’s spring run includes multiple stops in Florida and a concluding two-night stint at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, Colorado. Check out the new dates, plus their previously announced festival shows, European itinerary, and Zach Bryan support dates, below.

Support for the headline shows comes from Joy Oladokun, Mon Rovîa, Lamont Landers, and JJ Grey & Mofro. For every ticket sold, $1 will go towards nonprofits around the United States via the Alabama Shakes Fund, a press release notes. There is, as yet, no word on a follow-up to the band’s 2015 album, Sound & Color, but they did sign to Island this year and release their first single since that record.

Alabama Shakes:

04-16 Richmond, VA – Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront ~
04-17 Asheville, NC – ExploreAsheville.com Arena ~
04-18 Charleston, SC – High Water Fest
04-22 Memphis, TN – Grind City Amphitheater +
04-24 Atlanta, GA – Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park +
04-25 Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater +
04-26 St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre %
04-28 Tallahassee, FL – Adderley Amphitheater %
04-29 Boca Raton, FL – Sunset Cove Amphitheater %
04-30 Clearwater, FL – The BayCare Sound %
05-02 New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
05-24 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre #
05-25 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre #
06-13 Manchester, Tennessee – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
07-01 Leeds, England – Millennium Square
07-02 Wasing, England – On the Mount at Wasing
07-03 London, England – Alexandra Palace *
07-05 Ghent, Belgium – Gent Jazz Festival
07-07 Lucca, Italy – Summer Festival
07-09 Lisbon, Portugal – NOS Alive Festival
07-10 Bilbao, Spain – BBK Live
07-11 Madrid, Spain – Noches del Botanico
07-25 Eugene, OR – Autzen Stadium ^
09-19 Dover, DE – The Woodlands ^

~ with Joy Oladokun
+ with Mon Rovîa
% with Lamont Landers
# with JJ Grey & Mofro
* with Tyler Ballgame
^ supporting Zach Bryan

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Alabama

Jacob Crews scores 20 for Missouri in 85-77 win over Alabama State

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Jacob Crews scores 20 for Missouri in 85-77 win over Alabama State

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Jacob Crews scored 20, and Anthony Robinson II added 19 in Missouri’s 85-77 win over Alabama State on Thursday night.

Crews shot 7 of 9 from the field, including 6 of 8 from the 3-point arc. Mark Mitchell added 15 points for Missouri (9-2), and Sebastian Mack added 10.

The Tigers had a 15-0 run in the first half, heading into the locker room up 52-39. Alabama State was held scoreless over a 4:19 drought in the middle of the second half to open a 9-0 run for the Tigers. The Hornets (3-8) responded with their own 10-0 run to bring the game within eight, 74-62. The Tigers regained control, though, to keep their eight-point lead the rest of the game, handing Alabama State their fourth loss in a row.

The Tigers shot 65% (33 of 51). Both teams shot 50% from the free-throw line.

Alabama State outscored Missouri in the final period, 38-33. Asjon Anderscon scored 23 for the Hornets, leading all players in scoring.

Up next

Missouri hosts Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 14.

Alabama State travels to Cincinnati to face the Bearcats on Dec. 17.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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