The formulation was almost adopted to the letter.
Mark Sears grabbed the late offensive rebound and Alabama had an opportunity late to tie or take the lead late. Jahvon Quinerly appeared for the outlet, however Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV picked it off. The Reed Arena crowd burst as Quinerly was compelled to foul and the free throws had been swished, stopping Alabama from setting a program report with a seventeenth convention win.
While there have been doubtlessly no postseason penalties of Saturday’s 67-61 remaining, No. 2 Alabama (26-5, 16-2 Southeastern Conference) had one other early taking pictures hunch which led to a halftime deficit. And when the comeback at concerning the halfway level of the second half did come — a staple of the final three shut wins — the No. 24 Aggies (23-8, 15-3) weren’t as simply swatted away as South Carolina, Arkansas and Auburn had been.
“I don’t think we’re aggressive enough on offense (early),” head coach Nate Oats stated. “We’re turning the ball over too much early. If we had an exact answer I’d try to fix it. I’m not sure, but we’re gonna talk about it and see if we can. … I think the last two games we’ve had two and three points at the first media timeout which is not how we want to be playing. We’ve got to do a better job prepping them of how to attack what they’re gonna do defensively to start the game.”
A couple of extra 3-pointers started to fall for the Tide, the breakaway offense opened up and the protection restricted A&M to a number of scoreless stretches. When Brandon Miller fouled out although, there wasn’t sufficient offense to stop a momentum-generating win for the Aggies forward of a possible rematch in eight days.
Alabama has six days to treatment its downside with latest gradual begins earlier than the SEC event kicks off for them in Nashville. The video games will tip off Wednesday in Bridgestone Arena and with its prime seed, the Tide will play its first recreation on Friday.
“I think it’s needed,” Oats stated of the group’s relaxation between video games. “We got to get our guys’ legs back under them if we could make some shots. We gotta get back in the gym and work on some individual skill stuff. … The six days before we play a game is needed at this point.
The Tide took its first lead with about five minutes left in the game as Quinerly swished a 3-pointer. He kept up his run of “March JQ” as Oats has referenced of late, scoring 10 factors and giving the Tide one other ball-handler who may create his personal shot other than Miller.
Meanwhile, the Tide’s star freshman once more was off the mark from deep (2-for-12) however put collectively 19 factors and 10 rebounds earlier than incomes his fifth foul with 1:59 left within the recreation. Sears would additionally foul out as each Jaden Bradley and Charles Bediako handled foul hassle.
Alabama tried 11 free throws, making 10 of them, in comparison with A&M’s 27-for-28 efficiency from the road. The Tide additionally dedicated 18 turnovers.
“A lot. I thought we played passive because we turned it over,” Oats stated. “Their press slowed the game down. It’s not how we want to play. Then when you turn it over, start to play even more passive which is kind of a snowballing effect. … Turnovers killed us. They were bad and some of them were just not real smart plays.”
As has been the case in its shut endings, the Tide’s protection was efficient. It compelled robust layups and prevented open seems to be. A&M shot 34% from the sphere and hit 1 / 4 of its 16 3-pointers. The solely problem was Alabama was seen worse, going 7-for-36 from deep and 33.8% general.
Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or electronic mail him at NAlvarez@al.com.
