🏀 Tough loss for Alabama basketball in Nate Oats' first game

[BamaFan334]

Oof.

Foul trouble with key players and our best defender on the bench with an in-game injury.

Still kept it to within 2 Bonus+ free shots of a win. Kira in a rare snafu, goes 0-2 on the final 2 attempts to either tie or win it.

No one is hurting right now more than him.

81-80, Quakers.

No shame in scoring 30 and keeping the team in. Still hurts a true competitor, but we have some leader in him.

 

[#80]

That was painful to watch. From what I see we appear to be a middle of the road at best SEC team again this year.

 

[Bama News]

Tough loss for Alabama basketball in Nate Oats' first game | TideSports.com

The University of Alabama basketball team needed Kira Lewis Jr. to do everything down the stretch Tuesday night. He did almost everything. Lewis scored 30 points but missed two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining, leaving Alabama one point short in an 81-80 loss to Penn in Nate Oats’ first...

www.tidesports.com

The University of Alabama basketball team needed Kira Lewis Jr. to do everything down the stretch Tuesday night.

He did almost everything.

Lewis scored 30 points but missed two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining, leaving Alabama one point short in an 81-80 loss to Penn in Nate Oats’ first game as Crimson Tide head coach.

“I shot them with confidence, I thought,” Lewis said. “They just didn’t go in.”

“Our guys played hard for the most part,” Oats said. “We’ve got a lot to fix. Sometimes you win (with) all those mistakes and the players think they got away with it.”

Alabama trailed by nine points, 70-61, with 6:43 to play but rallied furiously and took an 80-79 lead on Lewis’ 3-pointer with 19.3 seconds remaining. Penn freshman Jordan Dingle, who led the Quakers with 24 points, answered with a layup that put Penn ahead with 7.5 seconds remaining.

Lewis then pushed the ball down the floor and was fouled by Penn’s Devon Goodman with 2.4 seconds to play but missed both shots.

“I’ve got to go shoot free throws tonight,” said Lewis, who was clearly emotional after the game.

“I pulled him up off the ground, made him look me in the eye and told him we didn’t lose the game because he missed those free throws,” Oats said. “We did a million things wrong. When a game is one point, then it’s everything you did on every possession.”

Alabama was short-handed coming in with no word on Jahvon Quinerly’s waiver and that situation became worse midway through the first half when sophomore forward Herb Jones crashed to the floor and suffered a hyperextended elbow. He played only nine minutes and is scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday morning.

After Jones’ injury, Alabama still led by six points, 33-27, with 4:10 remaining in the hard. Penn closed on an 8-2 run, forcing a 35-35 tie at intermission.

The Quakers quickly built a working margin in the second half which they maintained until Alabama’s late rally.

In addition to Dingle’s 24-point effort, Penn center AJ Brodeur had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman Jaden Shackelford had 16 points for Alabama.

The loss was Alabama’s fourth consecutive defeat on its home floor dating to last season.

 

[BamaFan334]

Agree with Coach Oats, it wasn't the free throws that costed us the game. I do believe true champions make those clutch free throws, but in a game where we turned the ball over and allowed a lot of easy drives, the free throws didn't lose the game.

 

[Destiny's Child]

I don’t mind the fast pace of play and all the threes but we struggled on the defensive end with simple on ball defending and we missed a ton of layups. Penn was smart but really only had two players and we knew who they were and still didn’t cover them. I think if we have herb we can shut one of them down.
I was surprised at how slow footed Shackelford was or how little effort he gave on defense.
Game 1 and Penn will be a good team if they can avoid injuries.

 

[MunchyOs]

Man, the last two coaches really fucked up the program. I like Oates and I'm glad to have him. It's just that this may be a serious rebuilding job. More so than was originally thought.

 

[Vabama77]

The effort and want to are there... plenty of chances to fold against an experienced team . Would have preferred an easier opponent but better days are ahead

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Nate doesn't have enough players due to injuries and the transfer issue.

Saw this on the rant

Quote

Yes, it sucks that we lost and the defense was bad, but people are overlooking the injury situation with the defensive effort.

We have 13 scholarship players.

With Rojas & Gary out for the year and Quinerly ineligible at the moment, that is down to 10.

After Herb got injured and couldn't return, that's down to 9.

Of those 9 players, Hawkins isn't ready and is redundant at forward in a 4-out lineup with Galin, Davis, & Reese, so he is likely going to redshirt.

So 8 players available in a high-tempo system Beedle and Reese hurt, not practicing for a week, and only playing as game-time decisions out of absolute necessity.

Kira had to play 38 minutes and Petty had to play 35 minutes, at break-neck pace. It's pretty hard to defend late when your legs are that heavy.

I'm not making excuses. It is what it is. Way too early to make some season-long and system-defining opinions about this game when we lost by 1 to a decent team and had 2 FTs to win it with only 8 bodies and tw

 

[Vabama77]

At least we have a coach and staff that are committed to a style of play and philosophy . Gotta love some of the FOGs that bitch after 1 game

 

[alabama mike]

If we do not get help with our inside guys, it is going to be a long first season.