Tide Take Down The Aggies, 100-97

The reports of the Crimson Tide basketball team’s death has been greatly exaggerated, at least for now. Entering Wednesday night’s home contest with SEC leading Texas A&M the Tide was coming off an embarrassing 100-77 loss at Florida on Sunday. The Aggies, under first year coach Bucky McMillian, have taken the SEC by surprise, and entered the game 17-4 overall and 7-1 in league play. Alabama entered 14-7 and 4-4. February 4th may be too early for must win game, but this one was damn close to one for sure. The two high flying, fast paced, high scoring teams, gave the fans their money’s worth with Alabama pulling out the thrilling 100-97 victory.

Coach Nate Oats sent out a starting lineup of Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell. Amari Allen, and Aiden Sherrell. McMillian countered with Marcus Hill, Jacari Lane, Rashaun Agee, Ruben Dominguez, and former Alabama (and Kansas) player, Rylan Griffen. Agee is a 25 year old playing on a temporary court order and Dominguez is a 23 year old freshman from Spain that played professionally in Europe for several years. For some reason the national media has not talked about that ad nauseam like some other stories.

Allen started out hot and hit two three pointers early for an 8-8 tie. Houston Mallette entered and connected from deep for an 11-8 Bama less with 15:45 left in the half. A Wrightsell three and one from London Jemison along with an alley oop dunk gave the Tide a 28-19 lead with 9:57 remaining. The Aggies went on a 10-0 run to take the lead back. Wrightsell and Mallette dialed long distance as the score went back and forth over the last few minutes of the half. Wrightsell drilled another from long range as time ran out to tie the game at 46 going into the locker room.

Alabama shot 14-36 for 39% including 9-27 for 33% from three while making 9-13 free throws. The Tide had 22 rebounds, six of which were offensive, 11 assists, three blocks, five steals, and only three turnovers. Jemison tallied 10 points in only six minutes of action. Wrightsell added nine points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Sherrell only scored four points, but added six rebounds and two blocked shots. Mallette scored six points with two rebounds and an assist.

Texas A&M shot a hot 18-34 for 53%, 9-20 for 45% from three, and 1-4 at the charity stripe. The Aggies grabbed 19 rebounds-only one on the offensive end-, dished out 13 assists, two blocks, three steals, and committed five turnovers. Hill led the way with 10 points, followed by Jamie Vinson with nine, Agee with eight, and Griffen with seven.

The same starters came out for the second half and the teams kept trading blows. The Tide avoided the lethargy coming out of the locker room that they have had so often this season. Mallette hit a three pointer with 12:28 left to put the Tide on top 64-61. A few seconds later the lead was gone. Oat’s protested a rebounding foul called on Charles Bediako a little too vehemently and was assessed a technical foul. Somehow the Aggies had already been in the bonus, so after two technical free throws and the one and one TAM retook the lead 67-64 at the 12:13 mark. The visitors used the free throws and a made three pointer for a 7-0 run and a 70-64 lead. Mallette stemmed the run with a three pointer with 11:04 left in the game. Jemison missed the front end of a 1-1 with the Tide down 74-69, but Sherrell rebounded, was fouled, and made both free shots.

Texas A&M made more free throws with 8:00 minutes left to give them 16-18 at the line up to that point. The freebie gave the visitors a 77-71 lead. Philon connected from distance to cut the lead to three, followed by an old fashioned three point play by Holloway. Holloway made two free throws with 7:12 left to give Alabama the lead 79-78. The seesaw kept going back and forth before the Tide went on a run to go up 90-83 with four minutes left. A&M went on another 6-0 run to tie things up at 92 with 2:30 remaining. Bediako made 1-2 at the line and score continued to bounce , 94-93 Alabama, then 95-94 Aggie. Wrightsell hit a clutch three for a 97-95 Tide lead with one minute remaining. Holloway made a circus shot while falling down, flicking the ball upward, and it somehow nestled in the net as a foul was called. The normally dead eye free throws shooter missed the chance and the lead was 99-95 with 15.2 seconds left. The Aggies scored quickly and their press, that they use for 40 minutes every game, almost forced a turnover. A tremendous effort by Mallette allowed Wrightsell to tie up an Aggie player for a jump ball. The possession arrow was fortunately aimed Alabama’s way. When the Tide inbounded the ball Allen was immediately fouled. The freshman missed the first shot, but made the second for a 100-97 lead with 3.5 seconds left.

Oats chose to foul on the inbounds and Agee was sent to the line. Agee missed the first shot, unintentionally, and was forced to miss the second intentionally. And it almost worked. The ball was batted around and ended up in Griffen’s hands. Griffen’s clear look at the basket hit front rim and bounced away was the clock reached zero and the Tide claimed the much needed win.

Alabama shot 17-33 in the second for 52%, 7-21 for 33% from deep, and 13-19 at the charity stripe. Overall the Tide was 31-69 for 45%, 16-48 for 33% from deep, and 22-32 for 69% at the line. Bama won the battle of the boards with 44 total and 23 offensive rebounds. The Tide moved the ball great and it paid off with 19 assists against only six turnovers, while blocking four shots and pilfering six balls. Six Tide players scored in double figures led by Holloway with 20 points and added six rebounds, four assists and one steal. Philon had 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and committed zero turnovers. Wrightsell made 4-11 three pointers and scored 16 points. Allen filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Mallette had one of his better games with 12 points and five rebounds. Jemison was the sixth double digit score with 10 points and also grabbed four rebounds. Sherrell scored eight points-all at the free throw line- and led the team with eight rebounds, three blocks, and a steal. Allen and Holloway shared the hard hat award for their strong play.

Texas A&M shot 14-31 for 45% in the half, with 4-11 from behind the arc, and stayed in the game with a 19-24 performance at the free throw line. Overall the Aggies finished 32-65 for 49%, 13-31 for 42% from three, and 20-28 on free throws. The visitors had 36 rebounds, only five offensive, 22 assists, two blocks, six steals, and turned the ball over only six times. Agee was the leading scorer with 21 points, Hill finished with 18, and Griffen had a nice return with 17 points and six rebounds. The Aggies leading scorer on the season, Dominguez, was held to one point.

This was a gutty win for the Tide with their backs against the wall. Bama and the Aggies trade body blows all game long and the Tide didn’t back down. The game was extremely fast paced and for each team to only commit six turnovers was remarkable. It seemed like for one of the few times this year Oats got the effort he has been pleading for. Having Allen back at full speed was a huge boost to Alabama. The freshman star can always be counted on to go all out. Taylor Bol Bowen and Keitenn Bristow were still not available, along with Davion Hannah and Collins Onyejiaka.

Next up is a trip to West Georgia to play the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT and will be shown on ESPN2.
Roll Tide