Alabama Basketball played 3-on-5, almost beat Minnesota

Alabama basketball may have lost the Barclays Center Classic against No. 14 Minnesota 84-89, but they did it with only three players on the court.

Imagine if Alabama basketball actually had a bench at the end of the game.

After the 6:21 mark of the second half, “a near brawl involving Minnesota’s Dupree McBrayer and Alabama’s Dazon Ingram in front of the Crimson Tide bench” ensued, according to ESPN.

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Officials stated that a violation was made by No. 25 ranked Alabama that resulted in a number of ejections. The entire Alabama bench, including Crimson Tide players Donta Hall, Alex Reese, Daniel Giddens, Avery Johnson Jr. and Herbert Jones were ejected for coming off of the bench when tempers flared up.

The officials sounded embarrassed when reporting the violation:

"“They all came onto the court. We went to the monitor and reviewed all of that. Based on the views that were given us it showed all of their players on the bench, came off the bench onto the court. The views we were given we didn’t see anyone from the Minnesota bench come onto the floor.”"

Even though no further action would be taken in this case, the rule stipulates that the Tide bench did not need to participate in the problem on the court to be ejected. All that they had to do was step onto the court as the issue developed, which they did.

The rule is the rule, and both teams knew it. The reason why the rule exists is for exactly what happened tonight in Brooklyn. Basketball cannot have chaos break out from the bench, when referees try to split players already on the court.

One can understand why Alabama’s young players came onto the court, despite the rule. Minnesota was disrespecting the Tide’s freshman star Collin Sexton, jawing at him and staring him down. The issue got so nasty that both Sexton and Gophers senior guard Nate Mason were assessed technical fouls. Mason couldn’t help himself and said too much as he returned to the bench, causing him to be ejected before the almost-brawl commenced.

Combine that with the pushing and shoving happening on the court and the Alabama bench felt the need to hurry out onto the court to protect their teammates. Big mistake. No punches were thrown, but the bench rule does not require even one. Sometimes, violence merely has to appear threatening in order for it to be dangerous.

What if the Alabama bench inspired the Gophers’ bench to do the same? It could have caused a brawl that could have spilled into injuries by the players, the referees, or even the fans (if they decided to take the fight to the stands, like some NBA fights have in the past).

The players needed to show some restraint. This is basketball, not a street fight or gang war. Alabama was the underdog in this situation. Sexton was playing so well (40 points on the night) that he was getting under the Gophers’ skin, which should have been taken as a compliment instead of a sign of disrespect.

Never let the competition see you sweat them. Act like you know how winning feels, no matter what they say.

Not long after the ejections, Dazon Ingram fouled out and the Tide was down to four players. To add injury to insult, according to Tide head coach Avery Johnson, “nearly 3 minutes after the McBrayer-Ingram incident, Alabama lost John Petty to an ankle injury.”

The fact that the game was even close, after that mess, should be considered a moral victory. Alabama basketball was outscored 41-29 in the first half of the game. After Alabama was down to only three players, the comeback was on. The Tide outscored Minnesota, the favorites, 55-48.

Sexton put the team on his back, plain and simple. The kid has been a beast so far, this season:

When asked about how a well-ranked team like Minnesota could have almost lost to a team with two fewer men on the court, Gophers head coach Richard Pitino, son of famous college basketball coach Rick Pitino, said:

Pitino also implied that Sexton’s skills are good enough to beat any team on any night by himself. High praise from the coach who was also given a technical foul earlier in the game.

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In what seemed like a crazy affair, much could be taken from the game. Alabama’s youth are incredibly talented; however, with that talent comes immaturity. Alabama basketball cannot afford to let itself get trash-talked into inappropriate actions. Once leadership and maturity kick in, Alabama basketball is going to have an even better team than they have right now.