Alabama @ Auburn preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 15, 2020 ) Auburn 64, Alabama 83

Auburn seeks a bit of revenge and a seventh consecutive victory overall when the 11th-ranked Tigers host rival Alabama on Wednesday night for an SEC battle. Auburn suffered its first loss of the season 83-64 at Alabama on Jan. 15, but the Tigers have strung together six straight wins after rallying from 14 points down in the second half to edge LSU 91-90 in overtime Saturday.

“It’s one of the better comebacks of my career because of what was at stake and just how much we were down late to such a good team in a championship-type game,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl told reporters. “I can’t think of many bigger.” The Tigers entered Tuesday tied with LSU and Kentucky for first place in the SEC after senior guard J’Von McCormick’s winning basket with 0.1 second left Saturday, but they managed to shoot just 31.7 percent from the field in the previous meeting with the Crimson Tide. Alabama started a four-game winning streak with the victory over Auburn, but had lost three in a row before grinding out a 105-102 overtime victory at Georgia on Saturday as sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. poured in a career-high 37 points. “This team is really resilient,” Lewis told reporters. “We came back together after the Tennessee loss (69-68 last Tuesday) and said we’re going to leave it all on the floor every game.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT ALABAMA (13-10, 5-5 SEC): Lewis’ big performance boosted his team-leading scoring average to 17.4 - fourth in the SEC entering Tuesday - and the 6-3 guard also leads the Crimson Tide in assists (4.7). Junior guard John Petty Jr. (15.3 points, team-best 7.3 rebounds) scored 21 against Georgia after recording 20 combined in the previous three contests while freshman guard Jaden Shackelford is third on the team in scoring (13.2). Junior forward Alex Reese is averaging 11.4 points over the past five games and freshman forward Javian Davis has averaged 10.7 in the last three - more than four above his average.

ABOUT AUBURN (21-2, 8-2): Senior guard Samir Doughty was going through a bit of a slump when he scored six points in the first meeting, but is averaging 24 over the last three and has drained 8-of-18 from 3-point range over the past two games. Doughty lead the team in scoring (16.0) while freshman forward Isaac Okoro (12.9) along with McCormick (11.7) also average in double figures and senior center Austin Wiley (9.7) tops the team in rebounds (9.0). Freshman guard Devan Cambridge drained seven 3-pointers to score 21 on Saturday after being blanked in four straight contests - a stretch that followed a season-high 26 against South Carolina.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Crimson Tide entered Tuesday sixth in the nation with 10.2 made 3-pointers per game.

2. Auburn senior F Danjel Purifoy (9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds) missed Saturday’s game due to illness and is questionable.

3. Alabama junior forward Herbert Jones (9.9 points) is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a wrist injury.

PREDICTION: Auburn 78, Alabama 70