01/22 at 12:42 AM

Josh Langford had a scholarship offer on the table from Alabama during his recruitment out of Huntsville’s Lee High last year.

For a little while.

“I don’t think their coach liked me very much,” the Auburn freshman said. “They offered me, then they took the scholarship offer away from me. I don’t know why.”

Does that provide any extra motivation for the 6-foot-7 guard when his Tigers take on Alabama at 5 p.m. at Auburn Arena today?

“Yeah,” Langford said, stone faced. “For real.”

Langford is the only part of the Tigers’ regular rotation that comes from Alabama and has had a lifetime tutorial in the Tigers-Tide rivalry.

Auburn coach Tony Barbee has seen some intense rivalries in his time around college basketball.

He was a player and assistant coach at UMass during its heated rivalry with Temple in the early 1990s.

He was an assistant at Memphis for some epic clashes between the Tigers and Louisville.

And, from all he’s heard, Auburn-Alabama can rival those two in terms of emotions.

“I’ve never been a part of a rivalry where you have two teams that are within that proximity of each other,” Barbee said. “UMass-Temple there is a distance. Memphis-Louisville there was a significant distance. There is no significant distance. We’re neighbors. We’re co-workers in this state, and that’s what makes this one different. That’s what makes it fun. Both sides truly hate each other.

“But still, it’s civil from what I’ve seen. It doesn’t go to the wrong side of itself. It’ll be fun.”

Alabama and Auburn enter today’s game traveling in different directions.

The Tide have won three of four conference games and are coming off an upset win over No. 12 Kentucky on Tuesday.

The Tigers have dropped all four of their SEC contests, the latest coming to Florida in a game where they scored the fewest points for an Auburn team in the 25 years since the shot clock came to college basketball.

Barbee doesn’t expect Alabama to make things easy for his team.

“They challenge everything you do. They challenge every shot. You never get an uncontested shot,” Barbee said. “Every bounce is contested. Every pass is challenged. Every screen ... Everything you do on the offensive end of the floor, they challenge it. So it makes it hard because it grinds on you over the course of a 40-minute game.”

Barbee also said the Tide show a marked strength in an area the Tigers have been lacking this season: frontcourt play.

Forward JaMychal Green, a 6-8 junior from Montgomery, is averaging 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and 6-6 forward Tony Mitchell is averaging 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds.

“When you don’t have post presence, I’ve always said, your team is a fraud,” Barbee said. “And they’ve got post presence.”

Auburn at least has help on the way in that department.

Sophomore Ty Armstrong saw his first action of the season against Florida on Thursday night, scoring 2 points and pulling down three rebounds in 8 minutes.

The 6-9 Armstrong missed the season’s first 17 games after tearing the ACL in his left knee in August, just three weeks after guard Frankie Sullivan experienced the same injury.

“I felt like it was in my best interest to play,” Armstrong said. “And I talked to coach about it and asked him if it was OK to get back out there. Everything went well, so I got back in the game and tried to help my team.

“I saw my team. We’ve been going through ups and downs and I couldn’t just stand back and not just play.”

Armstrong said the knee felt good through his first game action — although he had some soreness after — and that he isn’t too worried about experiencing a relapse like Sullivan, who played six games this season before his injury flared up again and shelved him for the rest of the year.

Barbee said that, even with Armstrong nowhere near 100 percent, he can serve a valuable purpose, giving the Tigers another big body besides 6-10 forward Rob Chubb.

Armstrong averaged 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds in 6.6 minutes per game last season.

“Rob has been doing an excellent job. Excellent job. But he can’t do it by himself,” Barbee said. “He needs somebody who can play off of him, and I think Ty will bring that to us down the stretch.”

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Alabama (11-7, 3-1 SEC) at Auburn (7-11, 0-4)
Where: Auburn Arena
When: 5 p.m.
Radio/TV: WKKR (97.7 FM)/CSS
Projected starters, Alabama: F JaMychal Green, 6-8, Jr. (15.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 2.1bpg); F Tony Mitchell, 6-6, So. (14.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.7spg); F Chris Hines, 6-6, Sr. (5.1ppg, 7.1rpg, 1.7bpg); G Trevor Releford, 6-1, Fr. (9.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.5 apg); G Charvez Davis, 6-3, Sr. (9.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)
Projected starters, Auburn: F Allen Payne, 6-6, Fr. (5.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.2 spg); F Kenny Gabriel, 6-8, Jr. (9.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg); F Rob Chubb, 6-10, So. (7.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.8 bpg); G Chris Denson, 6-2, Fr. (2.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.1 apg); G Josh Wallace, 5-10, So. (5.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 4.1 apg)