No. 9/9 Alabama falls to Oregon, 83-81, in the Players Era Festival Championship

LAS VEGAS – No. 9/9 Alabama men’s basketball fell to Oregon 83-31 in the final seconds of the Players Era Festival Championship game. The Crimson Tide led the game for more than 22 minutes, but a put-back dunk by the Ducks’ Nate Bittle with four seconds left made the difference

Alabama (6-2) responded with what appeared to be the decisive basket, but Grant Nelson The shot came just after the bell buzzer and resulted in the final score.

Labaron Philo led the five UA players in double figures with 15 points on 6-8 shooting and seven boards. Jarin Stevenson, Aden Holloway And Mark Sears each scored 11, while Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had 10 in defeat.

The Ducks (8-0) were led by Keeshawn Barthelemy’s game-high 22 points, while Bittle finished with 19 points and nine boards.

Head coach Nate Oats Post-game comments

“It’s a tough way to lose a game and our turnovers have haunted us here in Vegas. The last game (Rutgers) and this game we gave up points on turnovers and it’s hard to overcome that, so we have to find a way. “Everyone has to turn the ball over better and we still had problems guarding the post . We didn’t shoot particularly well at times tonight, but there will be games like that and you have to overcome bad shooting nights. That’s not what we wanted to do here, but this is a good team, we have to learn from it and we have to play better and regroup for Carolina on Wednesday.”

Team stats

• The back-and-forth contest included ten ties and nine lead changes.
• The Tide hit 12-38 (32 percent) from distance with twelve three-pointers
• Alabama finished the night with 15 turnovers compared to Oregon’s just eight, resulting in the Ducks having a 17-5 advantage in turnovers
• Grant Nelson finished the contest with seven points, seven points and six assists, which is the highest points he has recorded during his time at UA
• In addition to Nelson’s six dimes, Mark Sears And Aden Holloway Each had five helpers, who combined for 16 of the Tide’s 21 assists on the night (on 27 made baskets).
• Alabama had a 44-39 advantage on the boards

First half

• Labaron Philo led all scorers in the first half with 11 points Mark Sears reached double digits at 10
• Oregon beat Alabama 22:16
• The Ducks’ bench outscored the Crimson Tide’s bench 15-5
• Both teams were efficient on offense early in the game, with Alabama shooting 50 percent (6-12) and Oregon shooting 46 percent (6-13) within the first seven minutes of play
• Philon got Alabama’s offense going, scoring eight points in the first eight minutes of the game
• Grant Nelson recorded four assists within the first 11 minutes of the game, his most of the season
• Alabama scored two 7-0 runs in the first half, but the Ducks converted a three-pointer with eight seconds left to tie the game at 39-39 at halftime

Second half

• Oregon went on an 8-0 run to start the half and took a 49-43 lead
• At 12:25, the Ducks would gain their first double-digit lead (56-46) of the game
• Alabama got back into the game and hit back-to-back three-pointers Aden Holloway And Jarin Stevensonto cut the lead to two points (60-58) with 9:22 to play
• Stevenson, who scored all 11 points after halftime, continued his winning streak in the second half, converting three shots from three-point range in the first 12 minutes of the half
• Alabama went on a 6-0 run to take a 67-62 lead with 6:05 to play
• Oregon fought back and tied the game 75-75 with just under two minutes to play
• Alabama would only score one field goal in the final four minutes of the contest (Holloway’s three-pointer with 26 seconds left).

Next

• Alabama will continue its road trip when it travels to North Carolina for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, December 4th
• Tipoff is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CT at the Dean E. Smith Center and will be broadcast on ESPN