🏀 GAME THREAD 🏀 No. 8/9 Alabama Drops 87-80 Decision to No. 2/1 Purdue in Final Minutes

Game Guide: No. 2/1 Purdue - Alabama Athletics

For the second straight game, the No. 8/9 Alabama men's basketball team will face an opponent ranked in the top-five in the AP Top 25 Poll, hosting No. 2/1 P...

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The Crimson Tide faces its second straight opponent ranked top-five in the AP Top 25 Poll

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – For the second straight game, the No. 8/9 Alabama men's basketball team will face an opponent ranked in the top-five in the AP Top 25 Poll, hosting No. 2/1 Purdue, Thursday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide and the Boilermakers will face off for the third straight season and features two of the best point guards in the country in Alabama's Labaron Philon Jr. and Purdue's Braden Smith, who were both named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Watch List.

Game Info​ Date: Nov. 13 Time: 6 p.m. CT Location: Tuscaloosa, Ala. Venue: Coleman Coliseum See the full schedule

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[Rolltide24]

A 24 rebound delta is shocking. 19 offensive boards allowed is even more shocking.

 

[BamaFan334]

Am I the only one that thought we could win 5 or 6 out of 10 times against these guys? We shot the three like crap last night from our two biggest scorers, got out-rebounded, and kept them in the Bonus most of the night, and they still only won by 7 late. Over 20 lead changes as well. I'm never happy with a loss, but seeing us go cold twice in the game and still make it close leads me to believe we still have a great team that will make noise. Sucks knowing you're there and can't capitalize, but we knew this stretch wasn't going to be an undefeated one. Roll Tide.

 

[bamafan4ever]

Some silver lining from my perspective.

This team has not found its cohesiveness quite yet but we stayed with a veteran team and certainly one of the better teams in the country last night. We can't afford to hang our heads with Illinois and the Zags upcoming. The Purdue guys did seem to always to be in better position than the BAMA players on their missed shots and some of it was just being fortunate with the way the ball would bounce. Literally. I think KenPom said we would be 1-4 by the time the Gonzaga game was over but here we are at 2-1 so, it could already be worse.

I really believe this team has a very high ceiling but we will see.

One thing I don't understand and this has been with every BAMA team going back to Avery and Grant. Why does it take an act of Congress to inbound the ball yet we offer so little resistance to the other team in that same regard? It did not cost us last night but it certainly has on more than one occasion in the past.

 

[Justneedme81]

I understand why you said this in regards to what he posted.

And what was it?

 

[Justneedme81]

There were some under Avery. His teams were consistently out muscled. Then of course Gottfried's teams never played a lick of defense or could win on the road.

I think this team plays hard, but Purdue and Painter are a poor matchup for Oats. I mean we subbed in A 6-10 forward (Bowen) to play at 5 and Purdue counters with a guy who is 7-2.

Purdue plays old school style offense.
Alabama plays fast paced offense.

Both can exist in today's game. I wouldn't say this was a poor matchup for Alabama. Obviously, Alabama and Purdue fought hard all game long and exchanged leads throughout the game. To me, Alabama is right there with Purdue. If this game was played three times this season. I think Alabama wins one and third one is OT battle.

 

[Bammerboy321]

And what was it?

@alabama mike said Alabama basketball wasn't an afterthought and you responded with 'lol'. Why?

 

[Bammerboy321]

One thing I don't understand and this has been with every BAMA team going back to Avery and Grant. Why does it take an act of Congress to inbound the ball yet we offer so little resistance to the other team in that same regard? It did not cost us last night but it certainly has on more than one occasion in the past.

Been that way since the inception of Alabama basketball unfortunately. We have had a few occasions where Oats drew up a good in bounds play (most in his first season) but it has always been a point of struggle under him. Cost us the TN game last season.

 

[UAgrad93]

It was going to be a tall task without one big and another swing guy in Bristow that could mix it up inside. We needed to get hot outside and stay hot and it didn’t happen.

 

[Justneedme81]

@alabama mike said Alabama basketball wasn't an afterthought and you responded with 'lol'. Why?

I think you missed his point.

 

[bamaledge]

It was going to be a tall task without one big and another swing guy in Bristow that could mix it up inside. We needed to get hot outside and stay hot and it didn’t happen.

I could see us win this game if we played like the last game but didn’t.

 

[64Tide]

They going to out rebound most everyone they play. Their guys are tall and take up a lot of space. We have greyhounds and they are easily pushed/boxed out from basket. Very impressed with Purdue and their point guard who, seems like, never missed a shot.

 

[mando]

A 24 rebound delta is shocking. 19 offensive boards allowed is even more shocking.

Pretty amazing that they only lost by 7 and was tied at 80 at the 1:15 mark. That kind of stat would normally be a double digit loss. Not good but also not surprising with the inside issue. The team absolutely knows where its issues are. They are not going to magically make this go away but they can improve it and that improvement could make the difference against elite talent. If they do not get better well it could be a good but not great year.

 

[TerryP]

They going to out rebound most everyone they play. Their guys are tall and take up a lot of space. We have greyhounds and they are easily pushed/boxed out from basket. Very impressed with Purdue and their point guard who, seems like, never missed a shot.

I'd have to look it up.

I'm thinking we've seen him three years and he's put 70-80 on the board in those three games. I'd bet he's played over 90 percent of the minutes as well. I've enjoyed watching him play.

 

[TerryP]

This time of the year I tend to look at these games in the same vein as NFL pre-season. That's not the right way to see W's and L's. But, it is when you are looking at the team.

Not to disappoint anyone, I'm going to return to myself for a second here.

Points per possession. Here it isn't what
that number reads in its entirety. It is the number of possessions.

Clock management. We saw Purdue walking it up and draining time...and possessions.

It's left me wondering why we didn't see more on ball pressure on the in bounds. Ya know? Hurry them up.

 

[64Tide]

This time of the year I tend to look at these games in the same vein as NFL pre-season. That's not the right way to see W's and L's. But, it is when you are looking at the team.

Not to disappoint anyone, I'm going to return to myself for a second here.

Points per possession. Here it isn't who that number reads in its entirety. It is the number of possessions.

Clock management. We saw Purdue walking it up and draining time...and possessions.

It's left me wondering why we didn't see more on ball pressure on the in bounds. Ya know? Hurry them up.

As a team, you only have so much energy to expend. Our style of play favors the offensive end. Wasted energy on inbound pressure would have negated our offensive efficiency.

 

[TerryP]

As a team, you only have so much energy to expend. Our style of play favors the offensive end. Wasted energy on inbound pressure would have negated our offensive efficiency.

I saw it reported it was the second fewest possessions of any Bama team in his era. I should have posted the link here.

The point was more geared towards speeding up the pace. It's the one thing I didn't see mentioned in the thread.