The road warriors that are the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night in Bud Walton Arena, 85-81. The third ranked Tide improved to 20-3, 9-1 while the Hogs fell to 14-9 and 3-7 in league play. With the Alabama win and Auburn’s loss to Florida, Bama and Auburn are tied for first place in the SEC at 9-1. Furthermore, with number one Auburn and number two Duke losing, there is a good chance that the Tide will be ranked number one entering next week. Bama shot out to a big second half lead over the Razorbacks but stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled their way into a close game down the stretch. The 85 points scored was the 7th straight road game with 85 or more for Alabama.
Coach Nate Oats stayed with the starting lineup of Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson, and Clifford Omoruyi. After falling behind 2-0 off the opening tip, the Tide never trailed again in the game. Nelson scored a pair of hoops in the lane and added two free throws for a 6-2 lead with 17:35 left in the half. When Sears nailed a three followed by a lay-up and three pointer from Aden Holloway, Bama had moved out to an 18-8 lead.
The Hogs answered with Zvonimir Ivisic going absolutely crazy as the 7’2” European singlehandedly kept the home team in the game. Ivisic entered the contest averaging 7.8 points per game, but with 6:30 left in the half the had already doubled that with 15 points. Aiden Sherrell kept his strong play of late going, scoring seven points in his eight minutes of action. At the half the Tide led 40-34.
In the first half the Tide shot 16-27 for 59%, including 3-9 from three point range. Bama was 5-6 at the charity stripe and grabbed 19 rebounds with eight assists, two blocks, one steal, and the obligatory nine turnovers. Sears, Youngblood, and Sherrell led the way with seven points each. Holloway added five points, three rebounds, and three assists. Stevenson led in rebounds with four and had a block and two points. Nelson scored six with two assists and a block.
The Razorbacks shot 13-37 for 35% with 4-9 for 44% from deep and made all four of their free throw attempts. Arky had 16 rebounds, seven assists, seven steals, four blocks, and only three turnovers. Ivisic scored 15 on 6-10 shooting, including 3-4 from three point range. Adou Their added 11 points.
The Tide used the same starters for the second half. Bama came out hot when Stevenson scored on a put back, and Omoruyi slammed one home to build a 10 point lead at 46-36. Nelson, Sears, and Youngblood took turns scoring to build a (seemingly insurmountable) 64-44 lead with 12:10 left in the game. After a timeout review a basket the Tide had been rewarded on a goal tending call was reversed. Bama shook off that disappointment to build a lead of 75-57 with under seven minutes left in the game. From there things went off the rails.
With 4:40 left the lead as 79-67 and Tide turnovers began to add up. With 2:52 left the lead was down to 79-76 and Bama had a dog fight on their hands. A Sears layup help squelch a 12-2 three minute Hog run. The run since the 20 point lead was 19-6 in favor of Arkansas. The Hogs made two free throws with 1:17 left to make the score 81-78 in favor of the Tide, and the Bud Walton Arena crowd was going crazy. Nelson rebounded a miss and scored down low for 83-78 game with 58 seconds left. Arkansas had the ball with 10.6 seconds left and a chance to tie the game but missed a shot. With an 83-81 score Youngblood made one of two at the free throw line for a score of 84-81. On the miss Mo Dioubate forced the Hogs to fumble the ball out of bounds. After a timeout and inbound pass, Youngblood was fouled again. Again he made only one of two, but it was enough for the 85-81 win.
In the second half the Tide shot 18-35 for 51%, including only 2-10 from deep. Free throws were also a problem with 7-12 in the half. Overall Bama shot 34-62 for 55%, 5-19 from three for 26%, and 12-18 for 67% at the charity stripe. The Tide finished with 35 rebounds, 17 assists, three blocks, five steals, and 14 turnovers. Nelson scored 15 points with four rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Youngblood shot 5-9 from the field and scored 15 points in his 31 minutes of action. Dioubate was 7-9 from the field and scored 14 points with four rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Sears knocked down 11 points. with three rebounds, three assists, and six turnovers. Holloway scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out four assists with zero turnovers. All four of Omoruyi’s field goals were emphatic dunks and he scored nine points with three rebounds. Stevenson scored four, had five rebounds, and one steal, block, and assist.
Arkansas shot 15-28 for 54%, 3-11 for 27% and 14-17 for 82% at the line in the second half. Overall the Hogs were 28-65 for 43%, 7-20 for 35% from behind the arc, and a slick 18-21 for 86% at the free throw line. Ivisic finished with 27 pints, seven rebounds, three blocks, three steals, and two assists. Theiro added 22 points with six rebounds. The Tide held Johnell Davis to 13 points on 4-13 shooting.
In a flip flop from the norm, Dioubate was selected player of the game and Sears won the hard hat award for blue collar points. After the game Oats said “our defense fell apart late, for 30 minutes I was real pleased, but we didn’t finish.” Of Dioubate he added “Mo just keeps on doing all the little things, like forcing Arkansas to lose the rebound out of bounds late in the game.” Oats praised Holloway for his ball handling and shooting in the game. Asked about Ivisic’s big game, Oats said “we didn’t do a good job on him, we were supposed to be switching on him and somehow we didn’t.”
Another big win for the road warriors. The win was the Tide’s sixth road win of the season, and also their sixth win in a row since the hiccup against Ole Miss. Going into Fayetteville and taking a game from Arkansas is never an easy thing. Even though the Razorbacks started off slow, they have picked things up over the last two weeks. Building a 20 point second half lead- a good thing. Allowing the home team to close within three points late in the game- not a good thing. Winning on the road, tying for the SEC lead, and very likely being ranked number one on Monday- a good thing. Youngblood has brought toughness, leadership, and a dead eye from three point range since he has rounded into shape. Dioubate just continues to be the most relentless player on the court at all times. He may often be out of control, but you can count on him going full speed. Nelson continues to be steady, sometimes spectacular, and stuffs the stat sheet nightly.
The Tide left Fayetteville heading straight to Austin, Texas where they will play the Texas Longhorns on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2, followed by the “game of the century” as the Auburn Tigers and College Game Day will be in Tuscaloosa on Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT tipoff. The game will also be on either ESPN or ESPN2.
Roll Tide!
