Labaron Philon did everything he could, but Alabama basketball struggled outside of its star guard and without senior Latrell Wrightsell, who will sit out the Players Era Festival with an injury, and the Crimson Tide fell to Gonzaga 95-85 on Monday night.
Alabama had little firepower on offense outside of Philon. The Tide struggled to hit from three-point range, shooting 9-of-29, missed eight second-half free throws, and couldn't keep the Bulldogs off the offensive glass.
It was a frustrating night and ended a brutal four-game stretch for Nate Oats and his team. After banking two wins in the first three against St. John's and Illinois, Alabama had a golden opportunity to win three of the four. Instead, they came up short against a really good and experienced Gonzaga team in Las Vegas.
The most important observations for Alabama in the loss to Gonzaga
1. Labaron Philon is a serious threat to win National Player of the Year
If it wasn't for Philon, Alabama probably loses this game by 30 points. It would have been a complete mismatch with as poorly as most everyone else played. Alabama remained competitive in the game thanks to Philon's superstar performance.
Philon scored 29 points and dished out six assists. He hit 3-of-6 attempts from three, with the rest of the team combining to go 5-of-22 from long range.
The only issue for Philon was turnovers. He had a season-high six and was far too loose with the ball at times. Part of that, however, was due to the unbelievably high usage rate Philon had to carry in this one to keep the Crimson Tide in the game.
He did what he could, but just didn't get enough help.
2. Alabama needed more from Aden Holloway
With Wrightsell already out, Alabama was down one of its three star guards that lifted them to the road win over St. John's a couple of weeks ago. This team is different when all three are playing at an elite level. When only one is, this team will go through stretches where the offense completely stagnates, as we saw for chunks of the game against Gonzaga.
Holloway couldn't find his outside shot, which has been a concerning early trend for him this season to date. He compounded it by being overly aggressive to try and get himself going. He took some bad shots as a result.
Holloway was just 4-of-15 from the field and 2-of-10 from deep. A better game from Holloway and the Tide may have had a chance to get the win.
3. The frontcourt mismatch was tough to overcome
Aiden Sherrell played a good, albeit inconsistent, game. In a career-high 30 minutes, Sherrell scored 14 points, grabbed six boards, dished out two assists, and blocked three shots. That version of Sherrell unlocks a lot for this team.
Unfortunately, his starting frontcourt mate, Taylor Bol Bowen, gave Alabama practically nothing. He fouled out in 14 minutes, scoring just two points and grabbing four rebounds in the process. To make matters worse, Gonzaga's frontcourt of Braden Huff and Graham Ike was practically unstoppable as Alabama once again struggled against elite bigs.
Huff and Ike combined for 39 points and 19 rebounds.
Oats will need to get more out of Bol Bowen moving forward or it wouldn't be a surprise to see Keitenn Bristow replace him in the starting five.
4. Second-chance points doomed Alabama
It wasn't a Purdue-like mismatch on the glass, but Alabama still finished the game -12 in rebounding and allowed the Bulldogs to pull down a staggering 20 offensive boards. The Tide's first shot defense was once again pretty good, but it was let down by an inability to clear the glass.
As a result, Gonzaga was +15 in second-chance points, outscoring Alabama 25-10. In a game you lost by 10, it's easy to point to that as the biggest difference in the game.
In Alabama's two losses this season, it has struggled mightily in rebounding. That's gonna have to get fixed.
The Crimson Tide will be back in action on Tuesday night against UNLV with tip-off currently scheduled for 11pm CT.