Alabama Basketball: Tide pushed around and dunked over in loss to Hogs

The Alabama basketball NCAA Bubble burst in Bud Walton Arena as Arkansas physically dominated the Crimson Tide in route to an 82-70 win.

For Alabama basketball fans who did not see the game, the 82-70 loss is deceiving. The Arkansas team called off most of the Hogs with an 18-point lead and two and a half minutes to go. after the first five minutes of the second half, there was no doubt as to the eventual winner.

That is not to say the Alabama basketball team quit. The Tide battled offensively against a physically better team. Defensively the Tide was outmatched and out-schemed.

Arkansas sophomore, six-foot-eleven, Daniel Gafford was so dominating, only a trite description applies – he played like a man among boys. Avery Johnson used every available big body to try to help Donta Hall with Gafford. Galin Smith played 23 minutes. Alex Reese played 21 minutes. Hall played only 23 minutes and was ineffective defensively and offensively. Hall scored three points on three field goal attempts.

Gafford, however, was sensational. He scored 29 points on 11-for-17 shooting. He was 7-for-9 from the foul line. He grabbed 16 rebounds and dished out two assists. Avery Johnson had no answer for him. At one point in the first half, four Crimson Tide defenders surrounded Gafford in the paint. He scored anyway.

To make matters worse for the Tide, it shot 50 percent from the foul line. The Tide also committed 15 turnovers to eight for Arkansas. The Hogs had six blocks to the Tide’s three and 11 steals to the Tide’s four.

Tevin Mack with 14 points and Kira Lewis Jr. with 12 points led the Crimson Tide in scoring. Donta Hall was the Tide’s leading rebounder with eight boards.

What did Avery have to say? Cecil Hurt tweeted this,

"We’ve been talking about the same things all year long. I’m the head coach, so I am 99.9 percent responsible. I’ve never blamed the players. But I’m hoping with our backs to the wall, maybe we will do it right."

Doing it right as far as a NCAA bid will require a strong a showing in the SEC Tournament. The Crimson Tide is 4-7 in February and March – and worse has lost six of the last eight games. One win in the SEC Tournament is not likely to be enough.

The Crimson Tide will have to beat Ole Miss Thursday night in Nashville. Beat the Rebels and the next game is No. 2 seed Kentucky. Beat the Wildcats for the second time this season and the Tide will go ‘Dancin.’ Lose to the Cats and the next game for the Tide is probably in the NIT.

Daniel Gafford will play in the NBA next season and will enter the league as a first-rounder. He was ‘Superman’ against the Tide but other teams have been able to defend him. He scored 10 points against Auburn and only eight points against Mississippi State and South Carolina.