The 13th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide lost their second consecutive game Saturday night, losing 92-88 t0 the unranked Texas Longhorns. The Tide fell to 11-5 overall and 1-2 in the SEC while the Horns improved to 10-6 and 1-2 in league play. Bama trailed much of the game by double digits, fought their way back, […]
The 13th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide lost their second consecutive game Saturday night, losing 92-88 t0 the unranked Texas Longhorns. The Tide fell to 11-5 overall and 1-2 in the SEC while the Horns improved to 10-6 and 1-2 in league play. Bama trailed much of the game by double digits, fought their way back, and missed several chances to regain the upper hand by missing free throws down the stretch.
Once again the Tide wasn’t completely healthy, with Latrell Wrightsell joining Davion Hannah and Collins Onyejiaka on the injured list. Coach Nate Oats sent out a starting five consisting of Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway, Amari Allen, London Jemison, and Aiden Sherrell. The Longhorns countered with Jodran Pope, Dailyn Swain, Camden Heide, Matas Vokietatis, and Tramon Mark.
Texas shot out to a 4-0 lead before the Tide got on the scoreboard. Philon tied the game at four, Jemison hit a three to make the score 7-7 and Sherrell hit from long range for a 10-7 lead. A Philon floater and three free throws by Allen gave Bama a 15-10 lead with 14:50 left in the half. Texas coach Sean Miller was pushing the envelope of receiving a technical foul when he protested the call against Allen vehemently, throwing down his clip boards and berating the officials. Instead of two more free throws and the ball, the Tide watched Texas score six straight points to take the lead 16-15.
The game continued going back and forth, Jalil Bethea hit from three point range, as did Taylor Bol Bowen and Jemison. After Jemison’s make the Tide trailed 29-27 with 9:30 left. Texas went on a run led by Mark to shoot out to a 41-32 lead with 4:33 on the clock. Bama woke up with the help of a live ball technical foul on Texas. Holloway was shooting two shots for being fouled and was also selected to shoot the additional free throws. After making all four free throws and getting a stop on defense, Bol Bowen knocked down a buzzer beating three pointer to cut the deficit to 46-45 and the Tide carried momentum into the locker room.
In the first half Bama shot 14-34 for 41% including 6-16 for 38% from deep and made 11-12 free throws. The Tide gathered 19 rebounds and had seven assists, four blocks, two steals, and four turnovers. Holloway via his 7-7 free throw shooting, led the team with nine points with two rebounds and three assists. Philon scored eight, had two rebounds, two assists, a steal, and committed three of the team’s four turnovers. Sherrell, back from missing the last game and a half with a knee injury, scored seven points with four rebounds, and one assist. Bol Bowen tallied six points, grabbed four rebounds, and blocked a shot.
Texas shot 16-32 in the half with 5-12 from deep and 9-10 at the charity stripe. The Longhorns had 19 rebounds, six assists, three blocks, three steals, and committed four turnovers. Mark scored 16 on 5-9 shooting. Pope was next with eight points, and Swain added seven.
The Tide used the same starters for the second half. The momentum Bama had built went away during the 15 minute break. Alabama started slowly and the Longhorns led 60-49 with 15:45 left in the game. With 12:49 left the Tide was down 13 points at 66-53. In over seven minutes Bama had scored only eight points. The Tide chipped away, and when Holloway stuck a long three pointer the margin was closed to 72-71 with 7:40 left. With Texas leading 74-73 with 6:36 on the clock, Holloway was at the line for one and one and a chance to give the Tide the lead. The usually remaining Holloway missed the front end. Bama made a stop on the other end and Holloway was fouled again. The junior guard made one of two to tie game at 72 and 5:42 was remaining in the game.
With Texas leading 77-74, Philon was fouled and only able to make one of two shots. After another stop the Tide missed another great chance when Philon and Jemison hooked up on an alley-oop attempt that could not be converted. With 3:44 left Texas led 79-75. Holloway dialed in from long distance to pull within 79-78. More Longhorn free throws and the score was 81-78. With 2:58 left Jemison went to the line and missed both free throws. With the Horns leading 85-80 Allen drilled a three pointer and was fouled, and he….missed the free throw, leaving the score at 85-82 with 1:30 left in the game. Texas made 1-2 free throws before Bol Bowen made his third three pointer of the game with 1:02 left to pull within 86-85. With 11 seconds left and a 88-85 score Holloway was blocked at the rim. With 4.9 seconds on the clock Allen made a three pointer to cut the lead to 90-88. After being fouled the Horns made two more free throws to ice the game 92-88.
In the second half Alabama shot 15-32 for 47%, 5-12 for 42% from deep, and a killing 7-15 from the free throw line. Overall Bama finished 29-66 for 44% including 11-28 for 30% from three and 19-27 for 70% on free shots. The Tide finished with 38 total rebounds, 13 offensive rebounds, 16 assists, nine blocked shots, five steals, and seven turnovers. Despite being 0-5 from three point range, Philon led the way with 21 points, and had two rebounds with five assists and five turnovers. Holloway scored 18 points and tallied three rebounds and four assists. Sherrell had a nice game with 13 points, five rebounds, a block and a steal. Bol Bowen played one of his best games with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks. Jemison was 3-3 from three point range, and scored nine points with five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal.
Texas made 14-34 shots in the half with 5-12 from the and 13-22 on free throws. Overall the Longhorns were 30-66 for 46%, 10-24 for 42 % from three, and 22-32 on free throws. The Horns really got on the boards in the second half and finished with 48 rebounds, 18 offensively. UT had nine assists, six blocks, six steals, and seven turnovers. Pope tormented the Tide in the half and finished with 28 points on 6-13 three points shots. Swain scored 18 and grabbed eight rebounds and Mark added 18 of his own.
This was a bad loss for the Tide. At home, against a struggling team, and Bama came out listless and uninspired. Oats said that “I don’t think the guys took Texas serious. Our defense wasn’t good enough and we missed free throws by our better guys when we really needed them.” Oats added “We need some leadership to step up, guys that are tired of losing, we don’t have bad guys, the like each other, but they don’t respect their teammates enough to give winning effort.” The frustrated Oats says he is continuing to look at how he can get the players to play harder, to defend better, to rebound better. The Tide fell to 63-4 against unranked teams at Coleman Coliseum since 2020.
Next up is a trip to Starkville Tuesday to play Mississippi State. The game will tip at 8 p.m. CT and can be seen on the SEC Network.
Roll Tide
Category: General Sports
