Alabama basketball’s meteoric rise this season was met with a heartbreaking ending as the No. 2 seed Crimson Tide bowed out of the NCAA tournament with a 88-78 overtime loss to No. 11 seed UCLA on Sunday night.
A buzzer-beating 3 from Alex Reese kept Alabama’s season alive, forcing the game to overtime. However, the Crimson Tide ran out of gas in overtime as the Bruins put a bitter end to Alabama’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2004.
Alabama ends its season at 26-7, while UCLA (21-9) will move on to face No. 1 seed Michigan (23-4) on Tuesday in the Elite Eight.
A roller-coaster game marked by dramatic runs featured a tense final eight minutes of regulation as neither team led by more than 3 points.
Trailing UCLA 63-62, Alabama forward Herbert Jones had an opportunity to put the Tide up as he was sent to the line for two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play. However, the senior missed both foul shots forcing the Tide to foul.
UCLA’s David Singleton then hit two free throws on the other end to extend the lead to 65-62 and set up Reese’s heroics. With 4.2 seconds remaining Jones hurled a pass to Jahvon Quinerly from the baseline. The point guard then dumped the ball off to Reese who hit a 3 from well beyond the top of the arc to tie the game.
Alabama missed its first four shots in overtime as UCLA jumped out to an early 7-point lead in the extra period before burying a desperate Tide.
Alabama played well enough to win in regulation, outshooting UCLA 43 percent to 39 percent from the floor on the night. However, the Tide suffered from the free-throw line where it went 11 of 25 (44 percent). Meanwhile, UCLA went 20 of 25 from the line, including 11 of 13 in overtime.
This story will be updated.
A buzzer-beating 3 from Alex Reese kept Alabama’s season alive, forcing the game to overtime. However, the Crimson Tide ran out of gas in overtime as the Bruins put a bitter end to Alabama’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2004.
Alabama ends its season at 26-7, while UCLA (21-9) will move on to face No. 1 seed Michigan (23-4) on Tuesday in the Elite Eight.
A roller-coaster game marked by dramatic runs featured a tense final eight minutes of regulation as neither team led by more than 3 points.
Trailing UCLA 63-62, Alabama forward Herbert Jones had an opportunity to put the Tide up as he was sent to the line for two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play. However, the senior missed both foul shots forcing the Tide to foul.
UCLA’s David Singleton then hit two free throws on the other end to extend the lead to 65-62 and set up Reese’s heroics. With 4.2 seconds remaining Jones hurled a pass to Jahvon Quinerly from the baseline. The point guard then dumped the ball off to Reese who hit a 3 from well beyond the top of the arc to tie the game.
Alabama missed its first four shots in overtime as UCLA jumped out to an early 7-point lead in the extra period before burying a desperate Tide.
Alabama played well enough to win in regulation, outshooting UCLA 43 percent to 39 percent from the floor on the night. However, the Tide suffered from the free-throw line where it went 11 of 25 (44 percent). Meanwhile, UCLA went 20 of 25 from the line, including 11 of 13 in overtime.
This story will be updated.
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