The 4th ranked Crimson Tide basketball team lost their second game in a row by dropping a 110-98 decision to the 18th ranked Missouri Tigers last night in Columbia, MO. The loss was the team’s first SEC road loss of the year.
Coach Nate Oats shook up the starting lineup under the guise of the team not starting as slowly as they have in recent games. Oats called on Labron Philon instead of Jarin Stevenson, and paired the freshman with Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Chris Youngblood, and Clifford Omoruyi. So much for that strategy. The Tigers came out and scored the first 12 points of the game, which happened to be the final victory margin. The Tide has not led in a game since the conclusion of the Texas game.
Sears finally scored on a drive to the basket to cut the lead to 12-2 with 17 minutes left in the half. A key sequence with about five minutes left seemed to stem any momentum the Tide had. Sears was called for a flagrant foul after grabbing a Tiger player to prevent a breakaway. Oats was so incensed he slammed his hand down on a clipboard, sending debris on the court, and was rewarded for his action with a technical foul. Four free throws and possession of the ball for the home team followed. Mizzou held steady with a 12-15 point lead for the majority of the rest of the half, before pushing out to a 51-31 lead with around four minutes left. Sears and Philon both hit three pointers to help the Tide “cut” the lead to 13 at 59-46 at the break.
The Tide shot the ball very well at 17-28 for 61% with 6-12 from behind the arc, and made 6-7 free throws. The undoing was allowing the opening blitzkrieg, 10 turnovers, most of which were unforced, and no sight of a functional defense. Bama grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out eight assists, had no blocks, one steal and the aforementioned turnovers. Sears led the way with 14 points on 6-9 shooting. Aden Holloway made two shots from deep and was second on the team with eight points at the half.
Alabama actually shot better than the Tigers, yet still trailed by 13 points. Mizzou just happened to get more shots off with 36, and made 22 of them for 61%. The home team made 6-14 three pointers and 9-14 free throws. With 14 missed field goals the Tigers collected nine offensive rebounds out of their total of 14, while passing for 11 assists, blocking two shots, grabbing eight steals, and only turning the ball over four times. Duke transfer Mark Mitchell punished the Tide with 18 points on 8-11 shooting, most of which were wide open layups or dunks. Anthony Robinson II added 12 and senior citizen Caleb Grill added 10 points of his own.
Oats has also talked about changing up the second half starting lineup to also stop slow second half starts. Mo Dioubate started in place of Omoruyi and Jarin Stevenson was in for Chris Youngblood.
Nelson cut the lead to 61-51 early in the half on a basket and a free throw. Youngblood entered and hit a three pointer to get the margin back to 10 at 64-54 with 17:13 left. Another flagrant was called on the Tide with Dioubate getting the honors after the Don Dailey led referring crew decided he wrapped a Tiger player as he swatted at the ball. After cutting the lead to 10, Mizzou had two more free throws and possession of the ball.
The Tide kept hanging around, making a push to cut the lead to 10, just to have Missouri answer each time. With 15:14 left the margin was back to 10 at 67-57 when within 30 seconds the Tigers pushed it back out to a 15 point lead. To the Tide’s credit they kept battling, at least on offense. Philon made a hoop in the lane to finally get under double digits for the first time in a while at 74-65 with 12:35 remaining.
Sears was cooking all game and drilled a long three pointer with 9:49 left to pull within six at 79-73, but it was short lived as Mizzou had the lead back to 15 within two minutes of game time. After Holloway and Stevenson hit threes, Mo scored in the lane and Sears threw in another from long range, the Tide was back within six at 104-98 with 55 seconds left. The Tigers finished on a 6-0 run mostly at the free throw line and took the 110-98 victory. Missouri had runs of 12-0, 9-0, and 60 in the game, and the Tide couldn’t overcome that.
In the second half Bama shot 18-37 for 49%, 7-19 from three for 37%, and 9-14 at the charity stripe. Overall the Tide shot 35-65 for 54%, 13-31 for 39% from three, and 15-21 from the free throw line. Alabama gathered 33 rebounds, 11 offensively, had 16 assists, one block, four steals, and turned the ball over 14 times. The block and steal numbers were way down, but you actually have to be in the vicinity of an opposing player for those two things to happen, and Bama for the most part wasn’t close to any Missouri player that was on offense.
Sears had a huge game, shooting 12-20 with 5-11 from deep, scoring 35 points with five assists and four turnovers. Philon was next with 14 points on 6-9 shoots and added four assists, and committed three turnovers. Dioubate did his thing with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, a steal, and his obligatory five fouls. Holloway shot 4-8 overall and 3-6 from three point range to score 11 points and had four turnovers of his own. Youngblood shot a miserable 3-11 overall and 1-7 from deep for his seven points. Nelson, Stevenson, and Omoruyi, were all non-factors in the game.
The Tigers shot 13-22 for 59% in the second half, 3-9 from three point range, and made 22-33 free throws. Overall the team shot 35-58 for 60%, 9-23 for 39% from deep and 31-47 at the free throw line for 66%. Mizzou had 32 rebounds, 18 assists, four blocks, 12 steals, and eight turnovers. Mitchell destroyed the Tide down low with 31 points in 32 minutes. Grill had a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds and added three steals and three assists. Three other Tigers finished in double figures.
This was a disappointing loss with a putrid defensive effort. Any college team that scores 98 points while shooting as well as the Tide did should not be losing the game. The slow starts by Bama have become a trend. Auburn scored the first nine points of the game on Saturday and the Tide lost by nine. Mizzou scored the first 12 points of this game and the Tide lost by 12. Turnovers have been a big source of conversation throughout the season, but how much of the issue are they really? In the loss to Auburn, Bama only turned the ball over seven times, but just couldn’t shoot the ball. In the big 103-80 victory over Texas the Tide had 17 turnovers. In the early season loss to Purdue by a score of 87-78, the Tide only had eight turnovers, and the same number in the 83-81 loss to Oregon. The Ole Miss loss at home did produce 21 Alabama turnovers, and the Tide was held to a season low 64 points. The timing of the turnovers has seemed to be a problem, as they tend to come at the worst times. In wins and losses the defense was been problematic all season.
Things don’t get any easier for Alabama. Next up is a home game with Kentucky on Saturday at 5 p.m CT. The game will be on ESPN. Matches with Mississippi State, Tennessee, Florida, and Auburn follow. The wheels could fall off the wagon quickly if things don’t turn around.
Roll Tide
