Alabama basketball nearly blew a 15-point second-half lead but held off Texas A&M to earn a massive win over a Top 10 opponent on the road in College Station.
The Crimson Tide led the Aggies 78-63 with seven minutes to play but ultimately had to withstand a furious A&M rally. The Aggies cut the lead to just three with 40 seconds left and had a chance to tie, but a three-pointer by Hayden Hefner at the top of the key missed.
A made free throw by Cliff Omoruyi followed by an offensive rebound and two made free throws by Chris Youngblood ultimately put the game away as the Crimson Tide earned a hard-fought 94-88 win.
It was a foul fest in College Station as most games are against a Buzz Williams-coached team. There were 58 combined fouls between the two teams and invoked memories of the preseason game against Memphis as the game lasted nearly three hours from tip to final buzzer.
Texas A&M was without star guard Wade Taylor IV, but winning on the road in this league is never easy and through three games Alabama has now banked a pair of road wins to move to 3-0 in SEC play and 14-2 overall.
Mark Sears led the way with 27 points, his fifth straight game of 20+ points. Aden Holloway, Chris Youngblood, and Derrion Reid all finished in double-figures off the bench.
3 Takeaways from Alabama's win over Texas A&M:
3. Alabama avoided a big scare with Cliff Omoruyi
Eerily reminiscent of the injury Auburn star big man Johni Broome suffered earlier in the day, Alabama center Cliff Omoruyi turned his ankle less than a minute into the second half after landing on Jarin Stevenson's foot.
Omoruyi writhed in pain on the ground and had to be helped off the court and went straight to the locker room. It seemed unlikely that he would return, but a few minutes later Omoruyi returned following the fourth foul on Mo Dioubate.
It wasn't a monster night for Omoruyi in the stat sheet, but he did lead Alabama in rebounding with 10 and added 7 points along with a blocked shot. He altered several more shots at the rim and keyed the Tide's defensive effort. He did all of that in just a little over 16 minutes of action.
2. That was the Chris Youngblood Alabama expected to have
Chris Youngblood is still getting comfortable with his new team. This was just his seventh game overall, but it was by far his best with the Crimson Tide to date. He looked like the player Alabama expected; the one who won the AAC Player of the Year last season at USF.
Youngblood's defense has been strong, but he has struggled to find a rhythm on offense. Against the Aggies, Youngblood scored 14 points and connected on 3/6 from three. He had one of the biggest sequences of the game following a flagrant foul call on him and A&M cutting the Bama lead to just seven points.
Youngblood went on a personal 6-0 run, connecting on a three and getting an and-one in transition to push Alabama's lead back to 13. He also came up with a big offensive rebound off of an Omoruyi missed free throw with 0:36 seconds to play. He connected on both of his attempts to push Alabama's lead back up to six.
1. Alabama won the glass against one of the best rebounding teams in the country
Texas A&M entered the game No. 1 in the country in offensive rebounds and as one of the best rebounding teams in the country, period. Alabama ended the game +8 on the boards, and while the Aggies ended up with an impressive 23 offensive rebounds, Alabama one-upped them with 24 of their own.
Grant Nelson and Labaron Philon were big, each ending up with four offensive boards. Jarin Stevenson had three and Mo Dioubate, Omoruyi, and Youngblood had two each.
Alabama has the size that should allow them to beat most teams on the glass. Doing so against a team whose entire M.O. is crashing the boards is impressive.
Next up for Alabama is a home game against Ole Miss on Tuesday.