No. 1 Auburn basketball was not going to be denied a monster win against the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide on the road on Saturday night.

With Bruce Pearl calling the shots for the Tigers, Auburn escaped Tuscaloosa with a 94-85 win against Nate Oats' squad. And for Pearl, he also pulled off a feat no other coach before had managed to do, as pointed out after the game by John Fanta of Fox Sports.

“Bruce Pearl just became the first college basketball coach in the history of the sport to win a 1 vs. 2 showdown with two different schools (Tennessee over Memphis in 2008, Auburn over Alabama today),” Fanta shared on X (formerly Twitter).

As mentioned, Pearl was still coaching the Tennessee Volunteers in 2008 when he led that team to a win over the top-ranked program at that time which was still then under the help of John Calipari.

Pearl and the No. 2 Vols eked out a 66-62 road victory against a Memphis team that boasted the likes of eventual NBA Most Valuable Player award winner Derrick Rose, Robert Dozier and Chris Douglas-Roberts. Tyler Smith led the Vols on the court in that contest with 16 points while Wayne Chism and J.P. Prince each scored 13 points.

Even though Pearl's Volunteers did not win the NCAA title that season, they still won the SEC regular season title and won two games in the Big Dance before falling prey to the Louisville Cardinals.

This time around, Pearl has Auburn basketball humming. The win over the Crimson Tide virtually means that the Tigers will still be the No. 1 team in the nation for at least one more week. Unsurprisingly, Johni Broome, arguably the best college basketball player today, paced Auburn with 19 points to go along with 14 rebounds while shooting 7-for-16 from the field. Denver Jones added 16 points while Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara had 15 apiece.

Auburn basketball improved its overall record in the 2024-25 season to 23-2 following the win against Alabama while also carrying an 11-1 slate against SEC rivals. The Tigers, whose only losses this season thus far came at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils and the Florida Gators, will next take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at home on Wednesday.