Alabama hosted Florida in a battle of top ten teams but were beaten on their home floor, 99-94.
The first half of this game was a frenetic mess. Both teams like to play at a fast pace, and they did, but they didn’t necessarily do it very well from an offensive standpoint. Turnovers were rampant on both sides. Neither team could make much from three point range, and Alabama had a tough time at the rim. Mark Sears put the team on his back early despite not shooting it well outside, mostly by tossing in midrange floaters.
These are two of the better rebounding teams in the nation, but Florida clearly won that battle in the opening half, especially on the offensive end. Nate mentioned that coming off the floor and also believed that the Tide wasn’t playing tough enough in general. The Tide had no answer for big Alex Condon, who poured in 12 points including two of three from deep. Still, thanks to the 16 points from Sears including outstanding work at the free throw line, Alabama trailed by only one at the break, 41-40.
The battle continued to open the second half. Alabama came out shooting it better and grabbed an early five point lead, but Florida continued to outhustle them. It seemed that every 50/50 ball went Florida’s way, and Alabama failed to get back on defense on more than one occasion, leading to uncontested breakaways. That’s eventually going to cost you against an elite team, and tonight was no exception. The Gators unsurprisingly opened up a double digit lead with just inside ten minutes to play, and that was that. They made a bit of a run late, but it was too little, too late.
Florida was clearly the better basketball team tonight, and it’s fair to say that they wanted it more which boggles the mind. Condon is ridiculously good and was seemingly everywhere, but Walter Clayton Jr. was a major headache as well. The Alabama team we saw tonight is the one that can make an early exit in March. At this point some soul searching is needed if this team truly has championship aspirations. They are certainly good enough to do it, but do they have the want-to?
Hope for the best.
Roll Tide.
