The missing piece Alabama got back by upsetting No. 1 Auburn

The white towels flying down from the Auburn student section distracted from it. So, too, did Mark Sears, waving goodbye to Tigers fans with his right hand, which moved like a Pac-Man eating dots. Johni Broome walked in the opposite direction down the court, pulling his jersey up briefly to cover his face as the entire Alabama men’s basketball team, players, coaches and staffers alike celebrated the buzzer-beater.

The hullabaloo spanned about 30 seconds. A packed, chaotic half a minute that overshadowed the most important part.

Signs of life.

Alabama’s energy had been fading by the game. The machine that beat some of the top teams in the country was sputtering. Who cares if the seven-game stretch was the toughest? These players are human beings who can get discouraged too, losing four of the past six prior to facing the Tigers again.

“We’ve got to get our confidence back that we can play with the best teams in the country,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday, the day before his team closed the regular season on the road against No. 1 Auburn.

Then Sears dropped in a shot that not only gave No. 7 Alabama the 93-91 overtime victory over the Tigers at Neville Arena but also injected an energy-giving antidote into every single person wearing crimson and white.

There won’t be a big downward slope into the postseason, like two out of the past three years. Instead, Alabama went on the road and beat the top team in the country.

Talk about life-giving.

“We showed what we’re capable of being moving forward,” Oats said postgame.

That team was always in there. It beat No. 3 Houston in overtime back in November. It beat No. 19 Kentucky twice. Same with No. 25 Mississippi State, twice. But the team capable of defeating the best teams in the country had begun to feel like a distant memory in moments throughout the past couple of weeks.

Alabama choked in the final seconds against No. 4 Tennessee on the road. Then No. 5 Florida bullied the Crimson Tide at home. Sure, those are two of the best teams in the country, but Alabama wants to be in that conversation too. The Crimson Tide showed in the four losses since February 15 it was missing something.

Of course, the Alabama team of 2023-24 was too. A few things it seemed, especially late in the regular season. The Crimson Tide lost three of its last five heading into the 2024 SEC Tournament, where it went one-and-done with a loss to Florida. Then you know the rest. Alabama beat Charleston, Grand Canyon, North Carolina and Clemson en route to the first Final Four appearance in program history.

Each day that passed over the gauntlet stretch to close out this regular season, 2024 became more and more the reason for (waning) optimism in 2025. Maybe Alabama could once again flail at the end of the regular season but still put together an NCAA Tournament run. The past, however, is not solid ground on which to stake confidence for expected outcomes in the future.

Good thing Alabama now has a different reason.

You don’t need to look back to November to remember Alabama can beat the best teams in the country anymore. Your optimism doesn’t need to be rooted in 2024 any longer. Just recall what happened Saturday at Neville Arena.

Once the buzzer-beater fell, Grant Nelson jumped and flung out his arms. Chris Youngblood sprinted and bearhugged Sears. Oats bounced onto the court and pumped his fist. Some will label that celebrating, but there’s a better description for what happened.

Confidence and energy had finally returned to the Crimson Tide, just in time for March Madness.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.