No. 7 Alabama searching for extra gear in finale vs. No. 1 Auburn

No. 7 Alabama isn't out of gas, even if the tank has looked closer to empty than full in recent weeks.

Alabama (23-7, 12-5 SEC) has dropped four of its last six games and can't finish higher than third place in the SEC as it wraps up the regular season at top-ranked Auburn on Saturday

The slide started with a 94-85 home loss against Auburn on Feb. 15. The two programs were tied for first place entering that showdown with the Tigers ranked No. 1 and Alabama No. 2.

Auburn (27-3, 15-2) went on to clinch the No. 1 seed in the upcoming SEC tournament. The Crimson Tide were eliminated from the competition for the No. 2 seed on Wednesday when they lost 99-94 at home to No. 5 Florida.

Alabama also lost to then-No. 5 Tennessee and then-No. 15 Missouri during the swoon.

The loss to Florida was worrisome to Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats because of what was at stake.

"We knew it was going to be a tough stretch to close, but I thought we'd do a little bit better," Oats said. "I thought we'd at least play with more effort. I'm more -- not panicked we're losing. It's more concerning how we lost. ... I think Florida had more pop, more energy than us. That's concerning to me."

Crimson Tide star Mark Sears continued his strong individual play with 30 points in the loss to Florida. He has reached at least 30 in three of the past five games and is averaging 28.0 during the stretch to raise his season mark to 19.5.

But Sears needs some help as Alabama looks to avoid three straight losses to end the regular season.

"I would anticipate us being a lot better Saturday at Auburn," Oats said. "I don't think this group's going to have quit in them. I just don't really have an answer as to why we didn't have pop throughout a lot of the game, but we at least fought, didn't want to quit."

Tigers coach Bruce Pearl also is looking forward to the rematch as he prepares his squad for a possible deep postseason drive.

"We'll be excited about playing at home on Saturday," Pearl said. "You'd like to be playing your best basketball heading into postseason. We've got the conference championships wrapped up. We'd like to try to wrap up the No. 1 seed (in the NCAA Tournament).

"We think the resume is strong enough to get the No. 1 seed overall, which I think is important. More importantly, I want to see how we respond."

Auburn had its own tough night on Tuesday when it dropped an 83-72 road decision to No. 22 Texas A&M, a team that had dropped four straight games.

Instead, the Tigers were vastly outplayed as the Aggies defeated a No. 1 team for the first time in 10 attempts.

"We just didn't step up," Pearl said. "They physically dominated the game. We got pushed around. Give Texas A&M credit. They've beaten us before this way."

National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome had just eight points for his second straight single-digit effort. He averages 18 points and 10.7 rebounds.

Tahaad Pettiford moved into the starting lineup against Texas A&M with Denver Jones (ankle) out and knocked down a career-high six 3-pointers while scoring 19 points. Jones is questionable for Saturday's game.

In the mid-February matchup, Broome had 19 points, 14 rebounds and six assists to lead the Tigers. Sears had 18 for the Crimson Tide but was just 4-of-17 shooting.

--Field Level Media