The 7th ranked Crimson Tide lost at home to the 5th ranked Florida Gators on Tuesday night — Bama’s second straight loss. The Gators prevailed 99-94 and improved to 26-4 overall and 14-3 in the SEC while the Tide fell to 23-7 and 12-5 in the SEC. The loss was the third for Bama at home in SEC play. The game was senior night for Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Chris Youngblood, Clifford Omoruyi, and Max Scharnowki. The quartet were all honored post-game in an emptying Coleman Coliseum.
Coach Nate Oat sent out the same starting lineup that has been used for the last several games, Sears, Nelson, Youngblood, and Omoruyi were joined by freshman Labaron Philon for the opening tip. Much of the first half was back and forth between the two foes. With 15:58 left in the half, the score stood at 11-6 in favor of Florida as neither team could get on a big run.
With 12:22 left, the Tide got their second three pointer from Aiden Sherrell to go ahead 17-15. A Nelson dunk with 11:28 remaining gave Bama a 19-15 lead. Over the last four to five minutes of the half, the teams swapped leads of two to four points. With one minute left, a Youngblood basket gave Bama a 40-36 lead. Per normal, the Tide closed the half poorly and trailed at the half 41-40.
In the first half, the Tide shot 15-35 for 43%, with only 3-11 from three point range, and made 7-9 free throws. Bama collected 18 total rebounds, dished out eight assists, had one block, four steals, and five turnovers. Sears led the way with 16 points on 5-10 shooting. No one else had over five points in the half.
The Gators shot 17-36 for 47%, 3-14 from deep for 21%, and 4-7 at the free throw line. Florida dominated the boards with 24 total rebounds, seven of which were on the offensive glass. UF had five assists, one block, five steals, and turned the ball over eight times. Alex Condon scored 12 pints and grabbed five rebounds. Walter Clayton, Jr. scored 10 in 19 minutes of action.
The Tide used the same starters for the second half. The Tide took the lead 44-43 on a jumper by Philon with 18:33 left in the game. A three pointer by Philon and baskets by Nelson and Sherrell helped Bama lead 52-47 with 16:19 left on the clock. The Gators bounced back to tie the score before Sherrell hit his second three pointer of the game for a 55-52 lead at the 15:14 mark. Before you could turn around, Florida had surged to a 60-55 lead, and the Tide was playing catch-up the rest of the way.
Backdoor alley-oops for dunks, floaters made in the lane, and some deadeye three point shooting from the Gators, and the margin quickly became 75-63 with 7:41 left in the game. The Tide couldn’t corral loose balls, grab rebounds, or shut down the Gator offense. The lead reached 14 at 79-65 with 7:49 on the clock. With 5:07 left, the Tide finally got the lead under 10 points at 82-73, but couldn’t get the stops or make the shots to make a legitimate run at Florida.
Bama was able to cut the lead to 87-82 with 1:25 left, but it was too little too late. After each offensive possession, the Tide would have to foul Florida, and the Gators were making their free throws at a high rate. With 20 seconds left, Bama cut it to 94-90 but there was not enough time to work with for a comeback attempt.
In the second half, Alabama shot 19-37 for 51%, 6-14 for 43% from deep and only 10-16 at the free throw line. Overall, the team finished 34-72 for 47%, 9-25 from three for 36%, and 17-25 for 68% at the chairty stripe. Alabama grabbed only 35 rebounds, dished out 18 assists, blocked two shots, stole five balls, and committed only six turnovers- just one in the second half. Sears finished his career in Coleman with a big night, 30 pints, six rebounds, five assists, and zero turnovers. However, he shot only 10-24 overall and 2-10 from three point range. Philon scored 19 on 9-13 shooting with five rebounds, four assists, one steal, and only one turnover. Omoruyi scored 11 on a perfect shooting night, 3-3 from the field and 5-5 at the free throw line, and also had seven rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal. Nelson shot 4-10 and scored 10 points with four rebounds, three assists, and a block. Sherrell only played 10 minutes, but also had a perfect shooting night, 4-4 from the field with 2-2 from three point range, and scored 10 points.
In the second half, Florida shot 18-36 for 50%, 5-13 for 38% from deep, and 17-22 on free throws. Overall, the Gators shot 35-72 for 49%, 8-27 for 38% from three, and 21-29 for 72% on free throws. UF dominated the boards with 50 total rebounds, 16 of which were on the offensive end. The Gators managed 14 assists, five blocks, six steals, and turned the ball over 10 times. Condon burned the Tide for 27 points and 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Clayton, Jr. scored 22 points with five rebounds and eight assists.
After the game Oats sounded like a broken record of things he has said throughout the year, such as: “Guys are going to have to decide if they want to make tough plays or not.”, and “it seemed like Florida beat us to every 50-50 ball”
Narrator: “coach, they did.”
Oats added that “I’m not panicked that we lost, but more concerned about how we lost.” An emotional Sears after the Senior Ceremony “this place is always going to be my home, it does suck that it had to end like this.”
But back to Oats’ statement about the concern of the how… The Tide lost because:
1) They got killed on the boards
2) Bama could not score in the lane off of their drives
3) Poor free throw shooting
4) Lack of toughness.
It seems as if the fewer turnovers the Tide has, the worse their results are. Much like last season, Bama is fading down the stretch, albeit the gauntlet of playing seven straight ranked teams to end the regular season had something to do with that. If the team can right the ship, get a favorable draw, and have some good fortune in the NCAA Tournament, perhaps they can make another magical run like they did in March of 2024.
The last regular season game of the year is Saturday as the Tide visits number one Auburn down on the plains. The game will be at 1:30 p.m. CT and will be shown on ESPN. The Tigers will be coming off a loss as well, losing to Texas A&M on Tuesday night. AU clinched the SEC Regular Season Championship after they defeated Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Saturday night.
Roll Tide
