At 8:44 of the second half Wednesday night, former Alabama basketball player Rylen Griffin made three free throws to put Texas A&M up by six points. Over the next four minutes and 15 seconds, the Alabama Crimson Tide outscored Texas A&M 19-6. Neither team backed off or backed down. The final 3:17 of the game was a fierce battle. The Aggies came close to winning, but the Crimson Tide prevailed.
Aden Hollway and Labaron Philpn were outstanding for Alabama in the second half. They combined for only eight first-half points, but the Tide duo produced 29 second-half points. Holloway's lunging, almost desperation underhanded two-pointer at the 22-second mark was the game's most dramatic basket. It put Alabama up by four. And still the Crimson Tide had to survive a Rylen Griffen three-pointer, bouncing off the rim to avoid overtime.
The 100-97 final was a huge win for Alabama for a couple of reasons. One is that it was a must-win for Alabama. The other was that while the result does not now qualify as a Quad 1 win, it likely will later. The bottom line is Alabama beat a good, well-coached, hard-battling basketball team.
Nate Oats on how Alabama Basketball won
After the game, Nate Oats said, "We made enough plays, it wasn’t pretty. We didn’t shoot it as well as I’d like to see shoot it at the line. We made enough free throws to hold them off. We made a run when we needed to." Oats also explained the key stat in the game was Alabama out-rebounding the Aggies, 44-36. "We ended up out-rebounding them by eight, turnovers were even. In a game like that, you win the possession game by eight and turnovers are even then that’s kind of the difference in the game."
Aiden Sherrell and Amari Allen led the Tide with eight and seven boards, respectively. Alabama guards were major contributors to Alabama winning the rebound battle. Aden Holloway had six rebounds, Houston Mallette had five, and Labaron Philon pulled down four.
Nate Oats went a bit off-script from his normal rotation by playing only eight guys. One of the eight, Houston Mallette, fouled out late. Mallette scored 12 points, on 4-for-8 from outside the arc.
Alabama Basketball has another key game on Saturday, taking on the Auburn Tigers in Auburn.