Game thread: No. 9 Alabama at No. 24 Oklahoma

[gdh1954]

From Aaron Torres, Fox cbb guy, on Twitter.....

“Alabama just played its worst game in weeks, missed a bunch of easy layups, had a bunch of awful calls from the refs - and still only lost by five on the road to a Top 20 team. Oh, and Keon Ellis emerged as *another* weapon for this team. Tide be fine big picture”

“Also, credit where it's due: Oklahoma isn't just good, but better than it's ranking: Three straight Top 25 wins, and are way deeper offensively than in years past. No Austin Reaves, and instead, Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless step up. Really, REALLY good team”

 

[pwestbro61]

Oklahoma won despite having leading scorer not playing. Bama has no post presence. 14-6 offensive boards for Sooners was the ball game. Tough place to play. And I also suspect Big 12 is better than the SEC.

 

[gdh1954]

Also, too many guys on here are being too hard on Reese. He makes his fair share of mistakes but he’s the main reason we were in the game early on. Thought he played pretty well today. But I do agree that if he’s our leading scorer then we’re in trouble.
The sky is definitely not falling though. This was our first loss since Dec 19 2020

 

[N ALbamafan]

I'm also talking about when hes not in ball screens and hes still in bad position too. which is nearly every time. I have no idea how a big who has been playing at this level for 4 years is still this bad on d.

I don’t think you have an idea of the responsibility that he has on defense. I was watching just him on many defensive possessions today. He ran probably twice as far as some because of his responsibilities. Kid plays hard and yes has some off games. But this was not one of them.

 

[gdh1954]

Oklahoma won despite having leading scorer not playing. Bama has no post presence. 14-6 offensive boards for Sooners was the ball game. Tough place to play. And I also suspect Big 12 is better than the SEC.

Right. This team needs Bruner back in a bad way.

 

[N ALbamafan]

Right. This team needs Bruner back in a bad way.

Yes. I posted this in another thread just now.

Bruner not on the court does so much more to the offense and defense than you can imagine. Without him out there everyone has had to adjust their roles. As I said the other day the first couple of games it wasn’t as noticed because the ball was still moving and spacing was actually better. But when the teams figured out what the adjustments were (for example make sure there was an offensive rebounding presence) they have exploited it. Bruner may not have gotten all the rebounds but it was his assignment most of the time to not let the other big get in a position to get it. Now you’ve got bigs free jumping for rebounds because other coaches get paid to figure things out too.

 

[rsaxoniii]

We got out of sync for most of the second half offensively. Also, thought the refs did a fantastic job at sucking shit today.

 

[aggietider]

I don’t think you have an idea of the responsibility that he has on defense. I was watching just him on many defensive possessions today. He ran probably twice as far as some because of his responsibilities. Kid plays hard and yes has some off games. But this was not one of them.

He has no idea, that’s correct. There’s a lot more to it than what he sees.

 

[milso47]

///

JQ has played 10 minutes. 2 turnovers, 2 fouls...0 points.

yea but he was the best player on the team last year during practice. i never bought into that.

glad to have him on our team, but we need a point guard to be a better team. we are already a very, very good team. a stand out point guard would have us at the elite level/

 

[Brent8277]

Teams has figured out how to play us bye guarding the 3, plus we have got to get better rebounding on the defensive end!!!!

 

[CrmsnTusk4]

Teams has figured out how to play us bye guarding the 3, plus we have got to get better rebounding on the defensive end!!!!

There's been plenty of teams this year that have taken the 3 away, and we were still successful offensively. Not having Bruner kills that for us because that allows our opponent to leave a rim protector inside to protect against the drive while leaving the rest out defending the 3 line.

Having Bruner draws their big out since he's a threat to shoot.

 

[Brent8277]

There's been plenty of teams this year that have taken the 3 away, and we were still successful offensively. Not having Bruner kills that for us because that allows our opponent to leave a rim protector inside to protect against the drive while leaving the rest out defending the 3 line.

Having Bruner draws their big out since he's a threat to shoot.

When????? And when have we rebounded defensively with anybody on the floor against good rebounding teams??? Not saying we are awful but look at the stats!

 

[CrmsnTusk4]

When????? And when have we rebounded defensively with anybody on the floor against good rebounding teams??? Not saying we are awful but look at the stats!

I didn't say anything about rebounding.

Just off the top of my head, at Tennessee, at home against Florida. We didn't shoot near the amount of 3s that we average per game, and still found ways to score inside by driving since everyone was out at the 3 line.

I'm convinced some of you either:

1. Don't watch these games, and just throw out random statements blindly.
2. Watch the games, and have no clue how to interpret what you're watching.
3. A bandwagon FOG who needs to stick to Saturday afternoons.

 

[mtmax]

Wonder why Ambrose-Hylton didn't get more time today. Seems we needed his size.

 

[N ALbamafan]

///

yea but he was the best player on the team last year during practice. i never bought into that.

glad to have him on our team, but we need a point guard to be a better team. we are already a very, very good team. a stand out point guard would have us at the elite level/

You can see the frustration from petty and shack when Q is in the game. He isn’t reading and reacting correctly to the defense. He’s hesitant like he was at the beginning of the year. He turned it around then hopefully he can get it going again.

 

[pwestbro61]

Great season so far- but this team is not the world beaters that some of our fans now think after the Kentucky/LSU/Arkansas blowouts. Too weak on the boards and turnovers are problem.
Winnable game today with Oklahoma leading scorer out. But Bama lost badly the start, end of 1st half and last 3 minutes of the game. Lost last 2 minutes of first half and last 3 minutes of game 15-4. Ball game.

 

[Brent8277]

I didn't say anything about rebounding.

Just off the top of my head, at Tennessee, at home against Florida. We didn't shoot near the amount of 3s that we average per game, and still found ways to score inside by driving since everyone was out at the 3 line.

I'm convinced some of you either:

1. Don't watch these games, and just throw out random statements blindly.
2. Watch the games, and have no clue how to interpret what you're watching.
3. A bandwagon FOG who needs to stick to Saturday afternoons.

I guess Canó was wrong in his interview about the last 3 games

 

[CrmsnTusk4]

Great season so far- but this team is not the world beaters that some of our fans now think after the Kentucky/LSU/Arkansas blowouts. Too weak on the boards and turnovers are problem.
Winnable game today with Oklahoma leading scorer out. But Bama lost badly the start, end of 1st half and last 3 minutes of the game. Lost last 2 minutes of first half and last 3 minutes of game 15-4. Ball game.

I don't think many of us think these guys are world beaters, but let's pump the breaks on making any overall general observations after one loss. It's basketball. You're going to slip up and lose a few. This team also isn't as healthy as they were a few games ago. A couple of guys hadn't practiced all week because of injuries, we don't have Bruner. I think once everyone gets back to 100%, we'll be tough to deal with again on the offensive end. No issues with the defensive effort except the rebounding. That has to change, as you said. Totally agree.

 

[CrmsnTusk4]

I guess Canó was wrong in his interview about the last 3 games

Cano? You mean Oats? If you go back and read, my point was about not having Bruner is why we're having a hard time scoring when teams take away the 3. Bruner has missed more than the last 3 games I'm pretty sure.

If you go back and read, I know that's hard for some of you, you'd understand the point I'm making. Here it is in short form:

1. Could score when team takes away the 3 line with Bruner.
2. He draws their bigs out which allows us to drive and score with lack of help due to defending the 3 line.
3. We're not having success now because Bruner is out and can't draw their big guys out of the paint.

 

[Brent8277]

Watch t gd interview of oats Dumb ass

 

[CrmsnTusk4]

Watch t gd interview of oats Dumb ass

The amount of irony in this post is overflowing.

 

[Brent8277]

The amount of irony in this post is overflowing.

Oh my.....

 

[G.O.A.T-23]

In the end, it's basketball. You're not going to shoot the ball lights out every game. It's not like football where you have 11 people that contributes to wins, you have 5 out there and if sometimes, shots don't fall.

My only concern is can Bama win games against the better teams that can slow down the style of play? They were able to the last two games but today they played a tourney team who played physical basketball and they didn't answer the bell. Good game to have, win or lose, for future games that might end up being played this way.

 

[onebamamaniax]

Reese is the worst player on our team. Hes a bench player and luckily when Bruner comes back his minutes will be slashed in half. Hes a great catch and shoot off the bench. anything more than that is comical

You definitely don't watch basketball much or this alabama team

WTF are you taking about...CNO was almost apoplectic when discussing the offense against UK...don’t believe me, fine, but that’s our own coach

Coach Oats also knows how beat up this Bama team is! You're an F'n idiot if you think this team healthy would have had 3 bad games in a row.

 

[BamaLegacy]

You definitely don't watch basketball much or this alabama team

Coach Oats also knows how beat up this Bama team is! You're an F'n idiot if you think this team healthy would have had 3 bad games in a row.

As you said, CNO is aware of the injuries and still said Bama wasn’t ready to play and told Cecil he thought the rebounding issue was an effort thing, but if it makes you feel better to call names then do your thang man

 

[anon_z8qxv7qt5719f]

I would rather have Herb running the point than Shack. Shack is a 2 guard plain and simple

 

[jmillerbama]

I'm also talking about when hes not in ball screens and hes still in bad position too. which is nearly every time. I have no idea how a big who has been playing at this level for 4 years is still this bad on d.

35% from 3..........64% from the line.........3 missed easy layups to end the game! We arent gonna shoot like we did against LSU every night but our shots haven't been falling for two weeks now!🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

 

[jmillerbama]

It's tough at the end of close games without a PG that can break the defense down and finish or create for others. JQ can do that but he's obviously struggling right now. We need him.

Yea its weird with him......it looks sooo easy for him at times and Coach really hyped him up last year and he has dissapeared! And we really needed Primo or Petty today late in the game! That 3 Ellis barely missed in the corner with a few minutes left would have been huge!

 

[bamabuilt22daddy]

35% from 3..........64% from the line.........3 missed easy layups to end the game! We arent gonna shoot like we did against LSU every night but our shots haven't been falling for two weeks now!🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

If we score 70-80 we will win close to 70% of games still to play with our defense. Bruner is going to prove to be a an incredibly important aspect.

 

[jmillerbama]

If we score 70-80 we will win close to 70% of games still to play with our defense. Bruner is going to prove to be a an incredibly important aspect.

Yea Bruner will be a big key to the home stretch! But if we plan on turning heads throught the rest of the season we have to be better offensively! We have to either be closer to 45ish % from deep or 90ish % from the line every game! But we can't be bad at both in a game and expect to win!

 

[bamabuilt22daddy]

Yea Bruner will be a big key to the home stretch! But if we plan on turning heads throught the rest of the season we have to be better offensively! We have to either be closer to 45ish % from deep or 90ish % from the line every game! But we can't be bad at both in a game and expect to win!

2 mediocre games and a bad game in the middle of the season will happen. It always does. The key will be getting through february