TUSCALOOSA — Auburn basketball had checked nearly every box possible this season. Sure, the Tigers had played a relatively weak schedule, but they'd been smashing opponents by an average of 21.5 points and using all 11 players in their rotation to do it.

It looked sustainable against whatever opponent. And in whatever venue.

That evidently isn't true , or at least it wasn't at Alabama (13-6, 5-1 SEC) on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide handed Auburn a 79-75 loss in Coleman Coliseum, the first defeat the Tigers have suffered since they fell on the road at Appalachian State on Dec. 3. The winning streak is over at 11 games.

Auburn (16-3, 5-1) is now 0-3 in Quadrant 1 contests, with the other couple of losses coming against the Mountaineers and in a season-opening matchup with Baylor on Nov. 7. The Tigers are undefeated at home and on the road versus inferior foes, but they remain in search of a win against a top team.

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Auburn basketball does Crimson Tide some favors

Alabama's offense is rated by many metrics as the No. 1 unit in the country. It looked like it in the first half, bombing 3-pointer after 3-pointer to go into halftime with a 14-point advantage. The Crimson Tide opened the contest by connecting on five of its first seven triples, and it went into the break with a 47.1% mark from long range.

The Tigers also did Alabama's offense a ton of favors, turning the ball over nine times in the first half. That led to an extra 16 points for the hosts.

Alabama responds to Auburn's run

The Crimson Tide seemed to have an answer for every Auburn run in the second half. The Tigers opened with a 9-0 swing, but Alabama forward Grant Nelson threw down an and-one reverse slam to settle things down. Auburn even took a brief lead later on, but the Tide responded quickly to take it back.

Johni Broome bullies inside

All-SEC center Johni Broome was a force, finishing with 25 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks on 64.7% shooting. He kept Auburn afloat while it struggled to find its stroke from outside.

Next up on Auburn basketball's schedule

The Tigers will remain on the road for a matchup with Mississippi State on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball falls to Alabama despite huge second-half push