| MBB/WBB đźŹ€ Players Era Festival Championship Game 🏀 : No. 9/9 Alabama Falls to Oregon, 83-81, in Championship Game

I said what I said moreso for my sake, but did feel we were letting it slip away. Excellent win for the team and their confidence moving forward. I wish we had simply slammed the door shut by continuing to shoot the three, but felt we were toying with our prey and wanting to win by forcing everything down low with a minimum of three passes. Glad we won and fought through it all. Roll Tide.
 
Sears has got to be better driving the ball. Granted, Houston is elite on D and apply ridiculously tight coverage. But he has really struggled to get blow bys and drive the lanes. Some of it is Cliff too not setting good screens, but not what we're used to seeing.
 

The Crimson Tide picked up its second straight top-25 win with Tuesday’s victory

LAS VEGAS –
The No. 9/9 Alabama men's basketball team opened the Players Era Festival as it defeated No. 6/7 Houston in overtime, 85-80, Tuesday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Crimson Tide (5-1) picked up the team's fifth win in the first six games and marked the second consecutive top 25 victory (defeated then-No. 25 Illinois last Wednesday night).

Alabama had two players record double-doubles in Mouhamed Dioubate (10 points, 16 rebounds) and Grant Nelson (13 points, 10 rebounds) to lead the way. In all, Alabama finished with five players in double figures led by Mark Sears' 24 points along with four rebounds and four assists.

The Cougars (3-2) had three players reach double-figure led by LJ Cryer with a game-high 30 points.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

"We told our guys that was going to be a cage match in Vegas. That's the toughest playing team in America. They've got more wins than anyone else in college basketball for the past five years for a reason. I've got a ton of respect of how hard they play and how they do it. To outrebounding a team like that by nine, you've got to have some tough guys on our team too. Proud of all of our guys."

Team Stats

  • The contest was back-and-forth throughout, featuring 10 ties and 13 lead changes
  • Alabama won its 20th game against an AP Top-25 opponent under head coach Nate Oats
  • Alabama dominated the boards, outrebounding Houston 48-39 which included 20 offensive rebounds
  • Going into Tuesday's contest, the most offensive rebounds Houston allowed this season was 11 (vs. Auburn)
  • Alabama played in its first overtime game this season, and firs since March 9, 2024 (Alabama defeated Arkansas 92-88)
  • Five players scored double-figures for Alabama led by Mark Sears with 24 points
  • Mark Sears moved to No. 23 on Alabama's all-time scoring list with 1,353 career points passing Levi Randolph
  • Sears converted 12 free throws, the most during his time at Alabama
  • Mouhamed Dioubate grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with 10 points, picking up his first career double-double

First Half

  • Alabama outrebounded Houston 25-18 in the first half including grabbing 14 offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points
  • The Crimson Tide had seven players score in the first half led by Mark Sears' eight points
  • The first half featured eight lead changes and was tied on four separate occasions
  • Alabama committed four turnovers within the first two and a half minutes of the game as Houston jumped out to an 8-3 lead at the 15:41-mark
  • The Crimson Tide responded by holding Houston to a nearly four-minute long scoring drought to cut Houston's lead to one point
  • The Tide did not make a field goal for the final 3:26 of the half and trailed 36-34 at the break

Second Half & Overtime

  • Alabama shot 66 percent (4-6) in its first six three-point attempts of the second half
  • Houston went on an 10-0 run to take the lead (69-65) at the 4:28-mark
  • Houston did not a make field goal for the final 3:17 of the game
  • Latrell Wrightsell Jr. tied the game with a pair of free throws (78-78) with 27 seconds left in the game
  • Sears scored nine of Alabama's final 14 points in regulation
  • Entering overtime 78-all, the Tide outscored Houston 7-2 in overtime with four different players scoring
  • Alabama took the lead at the 3:59 mark off a Sears' three-pointer and the Tide would never relinquish the lead

Up Next

  • Alabama will play its second game in the Players Era Festival against Rutgers on Wednesday, Nov. 27
  • Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. CT at the MGM Grand Arena and can be seen on TBS
 
I only caught overtime but man am I proud of those boys. Houston is a final four type team and to be able to beat them gets your confidence up, and that's crucial for when you got to the elite eight or final four. The hustle by Mo and Grant and Sears, all of them played hard and played well. This team has a lot of experience, talent, and leadership. I think this team has what it takes to go all the way. And something I thought was cool; last night as I flipped to TBS and over time was about to start, the announcer said something like this is exciting. Two powerhouses going at it in overtime. And I thought how cool is it to hear Bama listed as a basketball powerhouse.
 
My son and I went to see Houston play A&M back in March in the tournament. Most physical basketball game I’ve ever watched, at any level. 30 fouls sounds high, but I guarantee they were legitimate.
 
I shuttle cars part-time as to have something to do. One of the guys I work with is a 1962 graduate and Basketball Co-Captain for the U. of Va. He couldn't attend the Va. game last night, so he had to watch them on TV. The following remark was pertaining to after the Va. game. He texted me this morning and these are his words, "After that, I watched one of the best college games I've ever watched, Houston vs. Alabama. It was a great game. Went into overtime and Alabama won. That was two Number One teams Playing against each other, and a Holiday Tournament." He lives and breathes basketball, so I take his opinion as evidence Bama is worth watching.

Roll Tide in Everything!
 
Most physical basketball game I’ve ever watched,

He lives and breathes basketball, so I take his opinion as evidence Bama is worth watching.

They did something last night we've haven't seen a lot of teams be able to do in the last five or more years: play Houston's style against Houston and win.

Now, granted, I think Oats is 3-0 against them. But, the first two were different ball games.

I absolutely hate the phrase, "quality loss." That game with Purdue, at Purdue, will come into play with seedings.
 
I absolutely hate the phrase, "quality loss." That game with Purdue, at Purdue, will come into play with seedings.
Much needed game experience wise. Arguably one of the toughest environments in CBB and a team that puts a lot of strain on your D due to backdoor cuts and switches. Oats said in his press after the Houston win it supposedly woke up the team when it comes to playing good D.

If we play yesterday's D all season long as the team still develops an identity on offense, we're championship level. But the consistency is the key.
 
Much needed game experience wise. Arguably one of the toughest environments in CBB and a team that puts a lot of strain on your D due to backdoor cuts and switches. Oats said in his press after the Houston win it supposedly woke up the team when it comes to playing good D.

If we play yesterday's D all season long as the team still develops an identity on offense, we're championship level. But the consistency is the key.
Going to be hard to sustain that every night but at least keep it in the same zip code. If they do this team wins a lot of games of which many could be blow outs when the offense really clicks.
 
Going to be hard to sustain that every night but at least keep it in the same zip code. If they do this team wins a lot of games of which many could be blow outs when the offense really clicks.
Process this:

We are talking about seeding in the tourney versus talking about making the tourney. It's November.

UCONN is having some issues. It happens with programs. So...there's your "quote" to hang onto this season. :devilish:

I forgot to DVR last night's game. I don't know if TBS has On Demand for sports...haven't looked through YTTV. I listened.
 
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