For the fifth straight time, Alabama didn't have enough to take down Florida. Frankly, it didn't come close to having enough.
After a back-and-forth first 15 minutes or so, Florida put the pedal to the metal from there. The Gators pushed to a 10-point halftime advantage, and within the first four minutes of the second half, extended their lead to 20 points. The game was effectively over from there.
It was a physical beatdown - a mismatch in the frontcourt. Florida scored 72 points in the paint. It was the first time an SEC team had scored 70+ points in the paint against a high-major opponent in over 20 years.
In the end, it was a 100-77 Florida win that effectively dispels any illusions that Alabama can be a serious Final Four threat or even an SEC contender.
But while the 72 points in the paint sticks out like a sore thumb on the statsheet, it's not the biggest issue Alabama had, according to Nate Oats.
"I didn't think the interior really killed us until late," Oats said. ..."What you're kind of most worried about these guys -- getting scored on in the interior -- wasn't what beat us. It was our guards turning the ball over. 25 points off turnovers. We've got to do a better job getting our guards ready to play against the physicality and the switching that some of these teams are going to do against us.
"We got to go back to the drawing board and figure out -- I mean, a bunch of teams are probably going to switch and be physical with us when they look at this film, because obviously it caused us some major problems."
Turnovers were more a killer against Florida than paint defense, per Nate Oats
That might seem like a wild quote, but Oats isn't wrong, either. Florida was always going to have an advantage in the frontcourt, Charles Bediako or not. But Alabama was supposed to have an edge in the backcourt. It didn't.
And in a 23-point loss, it's not a coincidence that the difference in fast break points was exactly that number - a 26-3 advantage for Florida. Those 26 points were all scored in the paint, too; it wasn't like Florida dropped 72 points in the paint in the halfcourt. They got a large chunk from run outs off turnovers, and quite a few off Alabama not getting back on defense off of makes.
Alabama's halfcourt defense hasn't been great, but transition defense has been an outright disaster.
Alabama came into the game ranked 5th in the country in turnover rate. The Crimson Tide coughed it up 18 times on Sunday, while only forcing the Gators into two. That was as lopsided as the paint, and served to turn what should've been a close game into an outright laugher the whole second half.
13 of Alabama's 18 turnovers came from its four-man backcourt of Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell, and Amari Allen. Philon led the way with five. It was his fifth game this season with at least five turnovers. Alabama is now 1-4 in such contests.
Alabama's guards struggled with Florida's physicality. The Gators aggressively switched ball screens and blitzed the ball handlers, and Oats and the Tide just didn't have a good answer for it. It was something Florida hadn't shown much on film coming into this game. It was an excellent game plan by Todd Golden and his staff, and unfortunately, Oats and his staff weren't ready for it, and then didn't have an effective counter.
Alabama's next game is on Wednesday against a fast-paced and pressing Texas A&M team. If Alabama can't take care of the ball better against the Aggies' aggressive defense, then it could be another long evening in Coleman.