BIRMINGHAM — The offseason is barely over, but for anyone wondering, the rivalry between Auburn basketball and Alabama is still in full effect as the Tigers and Crimson Tide entered the first media timeout of their exhibition in a scrap.
Troy transfer Thomas Dowd and Alabama's Keitenn Bristow both came down with a shot attempt on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Legacy Arena, and what looked like a jump-ball circumstance saw both teams converge on the tie-up after the whistle, with head coaches Steven Pearl and Nate Oats eventually exchanging words between officials.
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"It doesn't feel like one (an exhibition), does it?" Pearl said in a sideline interview on the livestream of Thursday's scrimmage. "It took about two or three minutes to get chippy."
Auburn entered the stoppage leading 11-9. Kevin Overton and George Kimble III were issued two of four technicals assessed in the aftermath.
Both the Tigers and the Crimson Tide, ranked 18th in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches Poll, already played one exhibition game entering Thursday, with Auburn losing 81-72 to Florida and Alabama beat Ole Miss 92-84.
Tensions are high between Auburn and Alabama early in their exhibition game 🫣
— 247Sports (@247Sports) October 23, 2026
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Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: See Auburn basketball vs Alabama get chippy early in exhibition