On a night primed for Alabama Basketball to join Auburn as co-leaders in the SEC, the Crimson Tide squandered away opportunity after opportunity against Ole Miss. In summary, Alabama played its worst game of the 2024-25 season, dropping Tuesday night's contest, 74-64.
The game's score suggests Alabama had a chance to win. In reality, Alabama, even when holding leads, did not play like a team able to beat a good opponent. The Ole Miss Rebels are not a great team, but they are good one. Alabama made them look like potential Final Four contenders.
The Rebels had a sound plan and executed it well. Ole Miss rebounded well and played tough defense throughout. Ole Miss was credited with 14 steals to just three for the Crimson Tide. Alabama made 21 turnovers, with far too many from ill advised or poorly executed passes.
Going into the game Ken Pomeroy had Ole Miss ranked No. 18, with a No. 13 defense. Against such an opponent, no team can make 20-plus turnovers, shoot 25% from three, and grab only four offensive rebounds - and win. Ole Miss deserves some credit for the outcome. One reason why is Malik Dia ate up the Crimson Tide's bigs with 23 points,19 rebounds, and two blocks.
Alabama spent the early part of the first half committing turnovers. Ole Miss took only a small advantage before Alabama settled in. Alabama led most of the first half, with a 36-32 lead at the break.
In a quick halftime interview, Nate Oats said, "Sleepwalking. We didn’t come ready to play. We got a million turnovers. I don’t know if we had an offensive board in the whole first half. Like, we got to pick this thing up. This is not what we’re supposed to be looking like."
Somehow the Alabama Crimson Tide missed a halftime wake-up call. Ole Miss took the lead at 15:53 of the second half and never gave it back. In the game's final seven minutes the Ole Miss lead ranged from six to eleven points.
One more staggering stat from the game is Ole Miss took 70 shots to Alabama's 47. No opponent is supposed to do that against a Nate Oats team. Ole Miss did it because of Alabama's turnover explosion and paucity of offensive rebounds.
Nate Oats bluntly explained Tuesday night's Alabama Basketball shortcomings
Two more quotes from Nate Oats tell the final story.
- "They came ready on the road. We did not come ready. ... Out of our first 10 possessions we had seven turnovers. ... Maybe the most disappointing thing of the night was our lack of effort on the offensive glass." Quote provided by Chase Goodbread
- "I told our guys in the locker room, we have to deserve to win, and we didn't deserve to win this game." Quote provided by Charlie Potter
It is probable that Alabama Basketball will rebound quickly and not play this poorly again in the 2024-25 season. A repeat performance would result in a loss against the majority of SEC teams.