Alabama Basketball: Tide comeback effort falls short at Missouri

Alabama basketball almost pulled off one of its greatest comeback wins of all-time but came up short at Missouri.

With 13:05 left in the second half, Alabama Basketball trailed the Missouri Tigers by 22 points.  Almost seven minutes later, at 6:13, the Tigers’ lead had barely dropped to 20 points. At 1:11 to go in the game the Missouri lead was down to a single point, after a Crimson Tide 21-2 run. The Alabama Crimson Tide had chances to take the lead in the last minute, but Missouri held on for the 68-65 win.

Crimson Tide fans would like an answer to what went wrong for the game’s first 30-plus minutes. A simple and accurate answer is – pretty much everything. The Tigers were the aggressor, playing tough defense and repeatedly pushing the ball in transition, even after infrequent Crimson Tide made baskets.

The energy level for Missouri should have surprised no one. Cuonzo Martin teaches mental and physical toughness. The Tide was flat and did not put up enough fight. Three fouls on Herbert Jones, holding his first-half work to eight minutes, was a factor. Missouri having a couple of physically imposing players was another factor. Missouri’s fast pace got it layup after layup in the first half. When the Tigers got to the rim, they finished. The Tide had a more difficult time getting to the rim, resulting in tougher shots and many misses. The Tigers got 32 first half, points in the paint to the Tide’s 10.

After the game, Nate Oats explained what happened,

"I thought we didn’t move the ball very well, didn’t have very good pace. Guys are trying to do too much right now, hurting us. Shot 11-24 at the rim, either shouldn’t have taken those or you have to make them.I give our guys a ton of credit, we were down 20 and then came back and gave ourselves multiple chances to win the game. But, bottom line we have to play better.We have to play better. That’s the bottom line. They’re a really good team, Coach Martin had those guys ready to go out of the game. We have to do a better job getting our guys ready to go out of the gate. We’ve got to play a lot better Tues."

The Crimson Tide will be on the road again on Tuesday against South Carolina. The Gamecocks are 5-6, but got a big win earlier this week, beating Florida on the road. They play Mississippi State Saturday afternoon.

Jaden Shackelford led Alabama Basketball in scoring with 15 points. Keon Ellis and Jahvon Quinerly had 12 points each and John Petty Jr. finished with 11 points.