Trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half, No. 10 Alabama basketball came within a free throw from staving off an upset to Davidson on Tuesday night. Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, Jahvon Quinerly’s second attempt from the line clanged off the back of the iron, leading to a heartbreaking 79-78 defeat in the C.M. Newton Classic in Birmingham, Ala.
After digging itself into a 10-point deficit with two minutes remaining, Alabama staged a late rally, using an 8-0 run to cut Davidson’s lead to 79-77 with 34 seconds to play. The Tide would get its opportunity to complete the comeback moments later as Wildcats forward Luka Brajkovic dribbled the ball off himself out of bounds, giving Alabama possession with 15.9 to play.
From there, Quinerly drew a foul with 3.3 seconds remaining. However, after hitting his first shot from the line, the junior point guard was unable to connect on his second, allowing Davidson to rebound the ball before running out the clock before putting the clamps on Alabama’s comeback bid.
Alabama (9-3) lost for the second time in three games while Davidson (9-2) extended its winning streak to eight games.
Despite ending the game on a 9-0 run, the Tide struggled to contain a hot-shooting Wildcats team that finished the night making 53% of its shots from the floor, including 50% (12 of 24) from beyond the arc. Alabama didn't shoot poorly itself, hitting 45% of its shots from the floor. However, the Tide ultimately came up short during Tuesday night's 3-point shooting contest as it made just 12 of its 36 (33.3%) shots from beyond the arc.
"We didn't do a very good job defensively," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said following the game. "We haven't been great on defense here lately. We've got to get our defensive energy up, our attention to detail. Until we do that, we're not going to be able to beat quality teams. Our offense wasn't bad, but we really lost the game on the defensive end.
"Not exactly what you want going into Christmas break. I don't know how many wake-up calls we're going to need to pick up the defense, but we're not going to win games in the SEC at a high level until we decide to guard much better than we did tonight."
Davidson made life difficult for Alabama, slowing things down during its possession while forcing the Tide to play defense for 30 seconds on most occasions. The Wildcats came into the game ranked No. 4 in the nation, shooting 41.59% from beyond the arc. Davidson's slowed-down approach Tuesday night allowed it to pick apart the Tide with the same efficiency.
Davidson guards Michael Jones, Hyunjung Lee and Foster Joyner combined to score 49 points while shooting 10 of 18 from beyond the arc. The Wildcats also saw Brajkovic score a game-high 22 points while making 2 of 4 shots from deep.
"It is difficult if you're not out there talking, if you don't watch film, if you're not disciplined — which is the main thing," Alabama forward Noach Gurley said. "If you don't do any of those three things, that's a hard offense to guard."
Alabama was led by Jaden Shackelford, who rebounded from the first scoreless performance of his career to record 20 points and five rebounds on 8 of 15 shooting, including 4 of 11 from beyond the arc. Juwan Gary also had a big game, recording 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds while shooting 4 of 5 from the floor and 3 of 4 from deep. Quinerly wrapped up Alabama's double-digit scorers with 13 points and a team-high six assists.
Alabama was unable to prepare much for Davidson as it was originally scheduled to play No. 21 Colorado State before seeing that game called off last Friday night due to COVID-19 complications in the Rams program. Following Tuesday night's loss, Oats said he had no regrets scheduling a tough replacement opponent, stating that he believes the game will better prepare his team for SEC play.
"Like I've said before, I'd rather go into the conference having played some really good teams in the non-conference and getting exposed what we need to work on," Oats said. "Our defense has been exposed. We could have played some lesser opponents — defense bad, offense was good enough to win, and they weren't good enough to beat you. But then you get into SEC play and it gets exposed. We've got to fix it."
The Crimson Tide will begin conference play next week when it hosts No. 19 Tennessee on Dec. 29 inside Coleman Coliseum.
After digging itself into a 10-point deficit with two minutes remaining, Alabama staged a late rally, using an 8-0 run to cut Davidson’s lead to 79-77 with 34 seconds to play. The Tide would get its opportunity to complete the comeback moments later as Wildcats forward Luka Brajkovic dribbled the ball off himself out of bounds, giving Alabama possession with 15.9 to play.
From there, Quinerly drew a foul with 3.3 seconds remaining. However, after hitting his first shot from the line, the junior point guard was unable to connect on his second, allowing Davidson to rebound the ball before running out the clock before putting the clamps on Alabama’s comeback bid.
Alabama (9-3) lost for the second time in three games while Davidson (9-2) extended its winning streak to eight games.
Despite ending the game on a 9-0 run, the Tide struggled to contain a hot-shooting Wildcats team that finished the night making 53% of its shots from the floor, including 50% (12 of 24) from beyond the arc. Alabama didn't shoot poorly itself, hitting 45% of its shots from the floor. However, the Tide ultimately came up short during Tuesday night's 3-point shooting contest as it made just 12 of its 36 (33.3%) shots from beyond the arc.
"We didn't do a very good job defensively," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said following the game. "We haven't been great on defense here lately. We've got to get our defensive energy up, our attention to detail. Until we do that, we're not going to be able to beat quality teams. Our offense wasn't bad, but we really lost the game on the defensive end.
"Not exactly what you want going into Christmas break. I don't know how many wake-up calls we're going to need to pick up the defense, but we're not going to win games in the SEC at a high level until we decide to guard much better than we did tonight."
Davidson made life difficult for Alabama, slowing things down during its possession while forcing the Tide to play defense for 30 seconds on most occasions. The Wildcats came into the game ranked No. 4 in the nation, shooting 41.59% from beyond the arc. Davidson's slowed-down approach Tuesday night allowed it to pick apart the Tide with the same efficiency.
Davidson guards Michael Jones, Hyunjung Lee and Foster Joyner combined to score 49 points while shooting 10 of 18 from beyond the arc. The Wildcats also saw Brajkovic score a game-high 22 points while making 2 of 4 shots from deep.
"It is difficult if you're not out there talking, if you don't watch film, if you're not disciplined — which is the main thing," Alabama forward Noach Gurley said. "If you don't do any of those three things, that's a hard offense to guard."
Alabama was led by Jaden Shackelford, who rebounded from the first scoreless performance of his career to record 20 points and five rebounds on 8 of 15 shooting, including 4 of 11 from beyond the arc. Juwan Gary also had a big game, recording 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds while shooting 4 of 5 from the floor and 3 of 4 from deep. Quinerly wrapped up Alabama's double-digit scorers with 13 points and a team-high six assists.
Alabama was unable to prepare much for Davidson as it was originally scheduled to play No. 21 Colorado State before seeing that game called off last Friday night due to COVID-19 complications in the Rams program. Following Tuesday night's loss, Oats said he had no regrets scheduling a tough replacement opponent, stating that he believes the game will better prepare his team for SEC play.
"Like I've said before, I'd rather go into the conference having played some really good teams in the non-conference and getting exposed what we need to work on," Oats said. "Our defense has been exposed. We could have played some lesser opponents — defense bad, offense was good enough to win, and they weren't good enough to beat you. But then you get into SEC play and it gets exposed. We've got to fix it."
The Crimson Tide will begin conference play next week when it hosts No. 19 Tennessee on Dec. 29 inside Coleman Coliseum.
