The Alabama Crimson Tide hoops squad came into this SEC vs. Big 12 Challenge having won their last 10 games in a row. However, when playing another ranked team in Oklahoma, the Tide couldn’t quite pull out the win.
Bama looked great in their 66-61 defeat and showed that they do in fact deserve to be ranked, just maybe not in the top 10.
Alex Reese led the way for Alabama today with 15 points and five rebounds. Jaden Shackelford also had a solid day while shooting 67% from beyond the arc, along with his 14 points overall.
Offense was a little shaky for the Tide today, but scoring turned out not to be the issue. The defense for Alabama was the real problem, and while at times they were stiff, at two key moments in the game the defense slipped when needed most.
At the end of the first half, they allowed the Sooners to have a small six-to-nothing run that flipped the score from 29-26 Bama, to 32-29 Oklahoma. Then, at the end of the game, Bama was up 60-59 with three and a half minutes left in the game. They then allowed another flip scoring just one more basket and allowing Oklahoma to outscore them seven-to-two for the win.
With all of this being said, there should be no panic for the Crimson Tide fan base.
In fact, being competitive with a team as good as Oklahoma would have been a shock the last five years. Yet, now the Alabama fan-base, as well as the experts, expected the Tide to win the game. That in itself is a huge jump for this team.
John Petty is regularly a star for the Tide, yet was held under double-digit scoring today. When a team’s best player has an off night, and they still look this good, you are in good shape. While Petty didn’t light up the scoreboard he still managed to be the leader for the team as well as coming away with five boards.
Also, Alabama had multiple players banged up on the court. Herb Jones and Reese were both battling injuries during this game.
On Jones’ condition for this game, Nate Oats talked to the media before the game saying, “Herb hasn’t practiced since the last game. He is still banged up but knowing Herb he is going to go. I mean, you could tell he wasn’t 100% against Kentucky, but he still almost had a triple-double.”
Reese was also battling an injury, but you could hardly tell it with the way he played today. Nate Oats mentioned his status before the game as well saying, “Reese, I held him out of yesterday’s practice to try to get him better, and he did look a lot better today… he is ready to go.”
One more thing to point out to the Crimson Tide faithful: Oklahoma’s last two wins before this one was against number five Texas, and number six Kansas. So, this team will most likely be ranked in the top-five come Monday.
Nate Oats is building something special at Alabama. This team is one of the best in program history, and as they return to SEC play Wednesday Bama hoops will be looking to stay undefeated in conference play.
As the clear front-runner for the SEC regular season championship, Bama has so much to play for and will still be in the running for a possible two or three seed in the tournament come March.
Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: hayden@new-yhn.local or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.
