The Auburn Basketball Team (13-11, 3-7) started out hot last night connecting on its first five shots to take a 10-4 lead against Alabama over the first five minutes.

Then through the eyes of this homer it appeared that the referees changed the complexion of the game. That's not to take anything away from the Tide who despite the absence of suspended starter Tony Mitchell put together a convincing win.

We knew it was going to be an up hill battle going in and the Tigers could not afford to make mistakes. With the Tigers leading 14-7, Kenny Gabriel was called for the first of three first-half technical fouls against Auburn for hanging on to the rim after a dunk. Kenny finished the game with 21 points for the Tigers.

The free throws off the technical's led to a 28-10 run by Alabama over the final 12 minutes of the half leaving the Tigers trailing 35-24 at the break.

Alabama (16-7, 5-4) scored 12 points in the first half off the three technical fouls including another for Chris Denson hanging on the rim and one on Coach Barbee.

There's no question that changed the complexion of the game, causing the Tigers to become frustrated committing 20 turnovers and seeing the Tide pull away with a lead they just couldn't make up. Auburn needed to keep this one close to have a chance but it was a chance that was taken away by the fouls.

However, Tony Barbee would have no part in placing blame for the loss on officiating. He said afterwards, " "We got off to a great start, and we had a lot of momentum on our side. Then it came to a stop. It came down to toughness, and that is why we lost our momentum. It had nothing to do with the technical fouls."

I appreciate Coach Barbee taking that stance, but as a fan, I can say it had a lot to do with it.

You just hate to see any athletic contest be affected by poor officiating. Bama may well have won without the help from the technical's but we will never know.

Regardless, it goes down as an ' L' for the Tigers. The only thing they can do about it is work harder and play smarter.

War Eagle!

The Auburn Men's Basketball team gave Head Coach Tony Barbee some good news last Saturday when they delivered a season high 88 points against Mississippi State. However, just when this team found their offensive stride, the defensive horse the Tigers had been riding all season went south.

Auburn's strength heretofore has been a tough tenacious defense. But on a Saturday night in Starkville the Tigers gave up 91, losing the game to the No.22 Bulldogs by 3 points.

Coach Barbee, while happy with the blossoming offense, was naturally disappointed with the loss. "Obviously, you can't give up 91 and win the game. We have been better than this defensively all year long. Just as our offense comes, we (seem to) lose what has made us all season long."

Still there were a lot of positives in the loss. In addition to scoring the most points on the season, the Tigers out rebounded State and out shot them 42-28 in the paint. The brightest positive came in ball handling as Auburn tied a school record with the fewest turnovers (3) since the benchmark was originally set in 1970 against Georgia.

The Tigers have shown improvement in almost every game since an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt on Jan.7th. But the record doesn't show just how far this team has come. They are 13-9 and 3-6 in league play. Yet the Tigers easily could have been 6-3, having lost three SEC games by a combined total of 13 points - losing at Arkansas by three, an overtime loss at LSU by seven, and a three point defeat at the buzzer to Arkansas.

Now the Tigers have a tough assignment ... beat their arch rival Alabama tonight at 8 p.m. in the Arena. Can they do it?

On paper the task looks daunting.

Auburn's new found offense is sure to be tested by one of the best defenses in the nation. The Tide (15-7) has held it's opponents to 37.3 percent shooting while allowing only 57.9 points per game.

Added to that will be the challenge of defending Bama's frontcourt led by JaMychal Green who is averaging 14 points per game. Those guys have only been outscored in the paint one time the entire season. That's the bad news.

The good news is ...

Auburn's defense is pretty good too; holding opponents to 40 percent shooting per game while out rebounding the competition, holding an edge in block shots, and turnover margins. In addition, Auburn has found it's offensive mojo, with Varez Ward averaging almost 18 points per game in the last three outings. And of course the most important stat of all is a 12 -1 home record in the Auburn Arena.

So can Auburn beat Alabama tonight? Yes they can. Will they do it? I don't know. But I know one thing - the house will be loud and rocking as the Tigers take the court to do battle with the Tide for the 144th time.

Go Tigers Beat Bama!

(Note: Fans can view the game at ESPNU and at ESPN.com. The audio can be heard on the Auburn Radio Network or at auburntigers.com)

Tigers are playing with a focused enthusiasm. Will take on Vanderbilt at 6p.m. CST tonight.

The Auburn Women's Basketball team has struggled this year with out the services of Team MVP and All-SEC guard Alli Smalley. But the last three games have brought hope of finishing strong as the Tigers enter the second half of the SEC season.

In the last week the Tigers (11-11, 3-5 SEC) really turned it on - losing a close one to Mississippi State (62-57), defeating South Carolina 53-49, and shellacking Ole Miss Sunday 67 -54. Coach Nell Fortner said the Ole Miss win, "Was a good way to start the second half of the SEC season."

The Tigers were tenacious in Oxford, putting up a fight in a game that saw eight lead changes in the first half. With a little over five minutes in the half, Blanche Alverson made a lay up that gave Auburn a lead the Tigers didn't relinquish the rest of the way.

This team has a different feeling than it did earlier in the year. After Sunday's victory, Coach Fortner said, "We are focusing on finishing the season strong and we are one down and now with seven to go."

There's no doubt about it, the Tigers are playing much better ball than they did the first half of the season. And they are getting a lot of that impetus from underclassmen. Sophomore Camille Glymph led the scoring in Oxford with 19 points and sophomore Tyrese Tanner, although not a starter, is the team's leading scorer with a 10.9 point average per game.

The Tigers will take on Vanderbilt this evening for the second time this season with tip off at 6 p.m. CST in the AU Arena. The Commodores won the first meeting in Nashville 66-58 on Jan. 12.

At first glance winning tonight's game might look like a tall order coming against a Vandy team that is 16-5 and has the SEC's leading scorer in Christina Foggie. She is averaging 18.2 points per game.

However, Vanderbilt has gone 3-2 since their first meeting; and the Tigers almost pulled out that one with a tremendous rally coming from a 20 point deficit to outscore the ‘Dores 45-37 in the second half.

Added to that little stat is the fact that four of their five losses have been road games including three SEC losses. And Auburn has a better than average chance to win as Vandy is catching Auburn on an upswing.

If Auburn keeps the momentum going they will put themselves in position to play in the post season. That's a scenario that didn't look too promising a couple of weeks ago. But now these Tigers are playing like a team on a mission and are focused on finishing strong.

Auburn knew they had to play great defense last night to have a chance to beat a hot Arkansas team at home - and that's what they did. However, in the end it came down to scoring a basket as the Tigers lost at the buzzer 56-53. It was the second heart breaker on the road the Tigers have had to endure in the last eight days.

It was a wild game from the start as Barbee's Tigers came out with a ferocious defense that held the Razorbacks to zero points for the first six minutes of the game. It was a defensive struggle on both sides with the Tigers leading at halftime 22-19.

Until now the Tigers' have been 10-0 when leading at the half. But the Tigers were without the services of guard Varez Ward who went out in the first half with an injury to the thigh and shooting guard Josh Langford missed all of the second half after his head took a hard hit on the floor while fighting for a ball.

The Tigers still fought back hard in the second half in front of a large and rowdy Razorback crowd. Auburn out shot Arkansas from the field 40 percent to 35 percent and out rebounded the Razorbacks 42-29, scrapping and fighting all the way to the buzzer.

It was a great defensive effort - exactly the kind that Barbee has been demanding from this group. Yet at the end, what was needed was for someone to be able to make a shot. And the Tigers had three chances on two different possessions to make 3-pointers that could have won the game or at least sent it into overtime. Frankie Sullivan and Chris Denson both missed open chances and Kenny Gabriel's attempt slid off the rim at the buzzer.

Coach Barbee said afterwards that he was really proud of the way his Tigers fought. "Any time you lose like that, it is a heart breaker ...Any time you go on the road in this conference and you can play that hard and fight that tough and give yourself an opportunity to win, that's all you can ask for. We had our chances. Unfortunately, they made a couple more plays than we did at the end."

This was a tough loss but now the Tigers have to put it behind them and get ready to play Tennessee in Knoxville Saturday night. The game is scheduled for a 5 pm CST tip off and will be broadcast by ESPN2.

After jumping out to their best start in seven years the Auburn Basketball team was faced with opening SEC play against, Vanderbilt and Kentucky, two of the best teams in the league. The result was an 0-2 start in conference play.

But something happened in the second loss that provided hope for Barbee's second Auburn squad.

The Tigers played with a defensive tenacity that here to fore had been lacking. They took No.2 Kentucky to the wire in a contest that was not settled till the final moments.

Then the Tigers pushed Ole Miss in to double overtime winning 69 - 68 and dropped a hard fought overtime heart breaker to LSU. Now at 12 - 7 ( 2-3 SEC) the Tigers seem to be energized as they head into the middle of the SEC schedule.

That energy was apparent last Saturday when the Tigers gave a dogged defensive performance in downing South Carolina 63 - 52. It appears the Tigers are finally playing the scrappy grinding defense that Barbee has been pushing for all season. And it started with the hard fought Kentucky loss.

Forward Kenny Gabriel said, "We finally grasped how hard we need to play to win games ... we feel like we can play with anybody if we raise our intensity to their level."

Tony Barbee believes the Tigers have, " Found a style that I think is going to work for this team. It is to shorten the games and grind it out."

That style worked almost to perfection Saturday as the Tigers forced 23 turnovers and shut down the Gamecocks in the second half.

"It's finally starting to click," said Barbee. "If you will guard with that sense of urgency, that sense of toughness on every position, then, no matter what you do offensively, you're going to give yourself a chance to win."

Maybe the Carolina game will be the momentum Auburn needs to make a run in the SEC.

But the Tigers face a tough two game road test beginning tonight at Arkansas. The Razorbacks may have played their best game in recent years Saturday as they beat No.20 Michigan 66-64 in front of 19,500 fans in Bud Walton Arena.

After Arkansas, the Tigers have to travel to Knoxville to play Tennessee, a team that just knocked off Defending National Champion and No. 13, U Conn.

This weekend will be a pivotal point of the season. But as Barbee said after the Kentucky game, the Tigers can give themselves a chance if they play with that same sense of urgency and toughness.

Wins on the road against the Hogs and the Vols is a tall task. But if the Tigers keep playing like they have the last four games it is doable. And it could mean jump starting a run into the post season.

I'm not saying Auburn is going to win the SEC but if the Tigers can win even one of these two games, they will be on their way to a winning record and have a chance at post season play.

Two wins here could provide momentum to take Auburn to the next level; losing both could start a slide in to mediocrity. How the Tigers perform in the next two games will be pivotal for the rest of the season

For the second consecutive game the Auburn men's basketball team finished an SEC contest in overtime. The Tigers defeated Ole Miss last Saturday in double OT 69 - 38. But this time the OT period didn't end in favor of the Orange and Blue as LSU downed Auburn 65-58.

Varez Ward hit a dramatic 3-pointer with :00.2 seconds left to force the overtime with the game tied at 56. Frankie Sullivan led Auburn with 19 points and Rob Chubb recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Coach Barbee said "I thought both teams fought and played hard and competed, but at the end of the day, they made more plays than we did. I am proud of the way that we fought back from that halftime deficit and came out of the locker room."

Auburn out rebounded the Purple Tigers 44-37 but LSU out shot Auburn 44% to 35% from the field. In addition Auburn was poor at the foul line, hitting only 8-of-15 compared to LSU's 7-of-9.

Ward said, "This is definitely tough (to lose). We fought hard in regulation and to let it slip away like that in overtime ... it is just heartbreaking."

Auburn returns to the Auburn Arena to take on South Carolina this Saturday at 12:47 pm CST. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

"There were a lot of different things working against us," said Auburn Head Coach Tony Barbee. "We weren't making shots. We were turning the ball over... My guys could have easily folded up the tent with all that adversity around them."

But the Tigers didn't fold their tents defeating the Ole Miss Rebels in a double overtime thriller 69 -68 in the Auburn Arena today.

The victory gave Auburn's it's11th win this year, matching the team's win total for the entire 2010 season

Auburn (11-6, 1-2) led the game 55 - 46 with 2:07 to go but the Rebels starting making 3-pointers and tied it up 57 -57 to force the game into overtime.

The first overtime ended tied at 65. In the second overtime Center Rob Chubb, who had been in foul trouble all afternoon, fouled out just seconds into the period.

Then Guard Frankie Sullivan's took over making two clutch foul shots to put the Tigers ahead 67-65 with about 4 minutes left. With 2 minutes and 54 seconds, Chris Denson hit two free throws to give Auburn a 69-66 lead.

Ole Miss's Reginald Buckner made a dunk with 34 seconds remaining to make it a one point game at 69-68. Then Jarvis Summers' stole the ball, went to make the game winning shot only to have it blocked by Kenny Gabriel with six seconds to go. Rebel Terrence Henry missed a tip-in and Frankie Sullivan got the rebound to seal the deal for the Orange and Blue.

It was the Tigers' first double overtime win in 21 years when Auburn defeated Georgia in 1991 in Athens 59-58.

Auburn shot 66% in free throws, going 18- 9 from the foul line. Chris Denson had 16 points for the game. Kenny Gabriel added 11 points, with 13 rebounds and four blocks; a career best. But you really have to be proud for Frankie Sullivan who for the last six games had been averaging only 5.7 points and came through with 19 - all after the first half. He also had four steels, four assist, and the game winning rebound.

Barbee said he was proud of all of his Tigers for the way they scraped and didn't give up ...

"That is part of the growing up process. With all that adversity, you still have to find a way to tough it out and still win by doing it together - and that is what we did."

For 30 minutes last night it looked like Tony Barbee's Auburn team might be on the verge of defeating his mentor John Calipari. With less than 11 minutes left in the game, Auburn led No. 2 Kentucky 47-45 before a sellout crowd in the Tigers SEC home opener.

Auburn (10-6) pushed the Wildcats to the brink in a back and forth game. There were 12 lead changes and eight ties. However, after Auburn had taken the lead with 10:52, the Tigers only made two field goals in the final 10 minutes.

Kentucky (16-1) came right back to tie the game and Auburn held the Cats scoreless for the next six minutes. But the Tigers' offense waned, making only two shots in the last 10 minutes while Kentucky hit two 3-pointers with a little over three minutes left, to take a 57-49 lead and start pulling ahead in the final moments.

It was an inspired Auburn performance that didn't look anything like the team that was trounced 65 - 35 by Vanderbilt last Saturday in Nashville. Maybe the Vandy embarrassment was a wake up call or maybe Tony Barbee is finally getting through to this bunch.

Chris Denson had 12 points for Auburn and Rob Chubb led the Tiger scoring with14 points and eight rebounds. Auburn actually out-rebounded Kentucky 35-29 and at one point, had a 32-16 edge in the second half.

Barbee was pleased with the difference in play. He said, "I think we figured some things out tonight. The guys fought their tails off... We have to take this and expound on it. I found a style that I think is going to work for this team. It is very similar to last year. It is to shorten the games and grind it out."

But he added, " We are still working on finding those catalysts, who when it is time to make those plays in the last five minutes in the game that we make them ... We have to go to that next level."

Even though the Tigers out hustled and outfought the Wildcats for most of the game, it was still a loss. But maybe now the Tigers can build on this performance and be a factor in SEC play. They showed last night that it's definitely possible. All they have to do is play every game like their opponent is Kentucky.