Only one stat really matters when you look at the box score for Alabama and Purdue.
Rebounding.
In an 87-80 loss on Thursday night at home, Alabama was outrebounded 52-28, the -24 margin the second-worst effort on the glass since Nate Oats became the Crimson Tide's head coach. It was the antithesis of blue-collar basketball; Purdue came into Tuscaloosa and was the tougher, more physical team.
That fact was hard for Oats to stomach in his postgame presser. Oats called Alabama's effort on the glass "embarrassing," and made sure to point out that Purdue's 6-foot-0 starting point guard Braden Smith finished with more rebounds (7) than Alabama's starting front court of Aiden Sherrell and Taylor Bol Bowen had combined (6).
The result wasn't all that surprising to Oats, who said Alabama's issues on the glass were noticeable in practice leading up to the season opener, and again in the two exhibition games. He's been driving the point home in practice, but perhaps it'll take getting exposed like they did on Thursday night against Purdue for it to click.
"Until we figure out how to make tougher plays, rebound the basketball at a much higher level, we're gonna have a hard time beating the best teams in the country," Oats said. ..."We've been sounding the alarm on the rebounding deal. It got exposed tonight. Our guys are gonna have to decide whether they want to have a good season or whether they're just gonna out-toughed every game the rest of the year."
Nate Oats said Alabama didn't deserve to beat Purdue
Despite getting punked on the glass, Alabama was very much in the game against Purdue until the very end. Houston Mallette hit a three with 1:42 to tie the game at 80. Braden Smith quickly got a bucket to put the Boilermakers back up by two on the next possession, but Labaron Philon stepped to the free-throw line with 1:16 to play with a chance to tie the game. He missed the front-end of a one-and-one, and the Crimson Tide wouldn't score again down the stretch.
As disappointing as the team's effort on the glass was, it should speak volumes to the ceiling of this team that they had a chance to win a game down the stretch against one of the best teams in the country despite that. And despite the struggles of both Philon and Latrell Wrightsell. And despite the fact that Alabama shot just 6-of-23 from three in the second half.
Alabama could have easily lost this game by 20+. Instead, they lost a close result against an elite team despite not playing anywhere close to their best basketball and still being without a couple of expected key contributors.
Oats wanted Alabama to get exposed early in the season with a brutal schedule. He got his wish against Purdue.
"We didn't deserve to win," Oats said. "They deserved to win the game. In sports, it's nice when the team that deserved to win wins, and they deserved this one tonight."