The 3-pointer: Takeaways from No. 5 Alabama's loss to No. 4 Florida
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Alabama was unable to keep up its first-half momentum in a 104-82 loss to No. 4 Florida is on Saturday. The wheels came off for the Crimson Tide in the second half after a strong opening 20 minutes and cost the Tide the chance to compete for an SEC Tournament title.
The game was flipped on its head after Alabama forward Grant Nelson was knocked out of the game with a left leg injury. The Gators were able to serge on the glass and in transition, while Alabama was left with few options offensively with some lackluster guard play that was unable to get going against arguably the best team in the country.
Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s matchup against Florida.
Tide bested on boards without top rebounder
The glass was a major factor in Florida’s win over Alabama inside Coleman Coliseum earlier this month. The Gators won the rebounding battle in that game and did so again Saturday afternoon inside Bridgstone Arena.
The complexion of the rebounding battle and the game changed when Alabama lost its top rebounder Grant Nelson to a left leg injury in the first half. Nelson was deemed questionable to return but never came back in for the Tide and Florida was able to pull away on the glass and go on a 15-2 run that it never looked back from.
Florida bested Alabama 43-38 on the boards and the margin felt wider than the box score shows. The Gators turned 13 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points and grabbed plenty of defensive rebounds to get going in transition. The Tide was outscored 63-40 after Nelson’s injury. The forward was Alabama’s best presence offensively and in the paint early, and the Tide couldn’t bounce back without him.
Alabama hung around with Florida in the opening eight minutes of the game. On the possession before the under-12-minute media timeout, Alabama grabbed two O-boards on one possession off of missed 3s. It's rare that Alabama misses when it's given multiple cracks from beyond the arc, and Aden Holloway made the Gators pay with a make after back-to-back rebounds by Diobuate.
The Tide played with better effort in the trenches than in its loss to Florida in Coleman, and was able to make the game on the glass look a lot closer than it felt after Nelson went down. But without the fifth-year forward, it just wasn’t enough against a lengthy Gators outfit that hounds the glass relentlessly and cost Alabama a chance at an SEC title game appearance.
Gator guards set the tone
Alabama came with a better game plan for Florida star Alex Condon on Saturday. The forward went for 27 points and 10 rebounds against the Tide in Coleman Coliseum. It was a different story Saturday, as Alabama held Condon to just eight points and four rebounds.
However, Florida is difficult to beat, even if Condon is having an off night. For as much as the forward was limited offensively, guard Walter Clayton Jr. stepped up and finished with 22 points. He burned Alabama from 3 whenever it was late going over a screen or a step behind when chasing him off-ball.
The Gators other starting guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard didn’t let Clayton have all the fun. Martin threw down a dunk in the second half and had plenty to say to Youngblood after the fact on the way to 16 points. Richard was a mid-range maestro all game, and matched his backcourt partner with 16 of his own.
Alabama’s ability to limit Condon kept the Tide in the game in the first half. But Florida booked its place in the SEC Tournament and showed why it could make an argument to be the best team in the country with its guard play. The Gators are an offensive juggernaut and Alabama wasn’t able to slow them down enough, giving up a whopping 1.54 points per possession in the second half.
Tide unable to find clean looks in second half
As Florida continued scoring, Alabama’s offense fell by the wayside in the second half. Empty trips in the final 20 minutes not only coast Alabama points but also allowed the Gators to run out in transition and get easy offense off of missed shots.
The Tide shot just 11 of 32 from the field in the second half. Possessions were long, and what open looks Alabama could muster didn’t fall as Florida kept up steady ball pressure and executed switches well to funnel guards into traffic and had four blocks in the second half. Chris Youngblood was Alabama’s only form of life, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the final period.
The Tide’s backcourt as a whole was unable to match the effort of Florida’s. After an outstanding game against Kentucky, freshman guard Labaon Philon never got going, finishing with just three points on 1 of 9 shooting. Mark Sears managed just nine points and shot 3 of 10 from the floor, and Aden Holloway was also unable to get into double figures. While it wasn’t a turnover fest for Alabama was out of rhythm moving the ball, getting just four assists compared to five turnovers in the second half. The Tide managed just 1.05 points per possession, compared to 1.18 in the first half.
In the opening 20 minutes, Alabama’s pick-and-roll actions were flowing. It also made 3 of its first 4 attempts from 3-point range in a back-and-forth affair. Jarin Stevenson appeared to be following up on a strong game against Kentucky with nine points in the first half, but managed just one in the second. Only Dioubate and Clifford Omoruyi were able to sustain their play from the Kentucky game. Dioubate added 12 points to his 12 boards and Omoruyi was Alabama's leading scorer with 14, but only scored four in the second half.
Florida made the necessary adjustments defensively and took full advantage of a thin Alabama frontcourt with Nelson out of the game. Alabama simply couldn't get enough in the paint, and a lackluster performance from its guards came at the worst time for the Tide.
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