No. 9 Alabama falls due to a late setback in the Players Era Festival Championship against Oregon – The Crimson White

Alabama forward Grant Nelson (#4) competes against Oregon on Saturday, November 30, 2024 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV.

Alabama’s men’s basketball team lost to Oregon 83-81 Players Era Festival Championship game on Saturday evening.

The Crimson Tide got off to a good start, scoring 17 points in the first six minutes of the contest and taking a 5-point lead. Oregon kept Alabama within reach the rest of the half, taking its first lead of the game at 24-23 with 8:28 left.

After a 7-0 Oregon run, the Crimson Tide went into the locker room with the score tied at 39 despite having 11 more field goal attempts than the Ducks.

Alabama’s main problem in the first half was turnovers. There were 9 turnovers scored and 9 points allowed from turnovers in the first frame.

“Turnovers kind of haunted us here in Vegas,” head coach Nate Oats said.

Good 3-point shooting kept the Crimson Tide in the game early. There were six deep attacks in the first half, four of which came from guards Labaron Philon and Latrell Wrightsell Jr.

Oregon took a 56-46 lead early in the second half, while Alabama continued to turn the ball over, shooting 25% from the field in the first nine minutes of the period.

However, the Crimson Tide didn’t want to go away. It quickly turned into a 12-4 run, cutting Oregon’s lead to 60-58 with 9:05 to play. This run came from defensive stops and a significant improvement in offensive efficiency, better ball defense and finding quality shots.

Both teams then had short shots on goal, giving Alabama a 70-67 lead with 4:58 minutes left in the second half.

The Ducks took the lead with an 8-1 run and had a lead of 77-75 with one minute to play.

After missed shots and free throws by Oregon that seemingly iced the game, Alabama continued to fight. Guard Aden Holloway hit a 3-pointer, and an Oregon inbounds steal led to timely free throws from guard Mark Sears and, after an offensive rebound after a Sears miss, forward Mouhamed Dioubate.

The Ducks got the ball back and converted it into a putback dunk with just seconds left in the game.

With 4.5 seconds left on the clock and the deficit 83-81, Sears tried to get a quick pass to forward Grant Nelson to try to tie the game. Nelson was unable to get the shot off before time expired, sealing Oregon’s victory.

“We learned a lot about ourselves,” Oats said of the loss. “We learned what we need to fix. We need to go back to the drawing board and fix a few things.”

Philon was the Crimson Tide’s leading scorer on the night, scoring 15 points, shooting 2/2 from 3 and grabbing 7 rebounds and two assists.

Sears finished the game with 11 points and shot just 1/11 from distance. He also added 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

“We didn’t do a particularly good job at times tonight,” Oats said. “But we’re going to have games like that and we have to be able to overcome some bad shooting nights.”

Forward Jarin Steveson, who had a difficult start to the season by missing his first 18 3-point attempts, scored 11 points on 3/4 shooting from behind the arc and grabbed 5 rebounds.

“This was the Jarin we were looking for this year,” Oats said. “It’s great that he persevered and boosted his confidence.

Nelson had 6 assists and scored 7 points, a team-high.

Alabama suffered a major setback to its rotation after Wrightsell was sidelined early in the first half with a lower leg injury. This came after the team’s established leader missed significant time last season due to injuries.

“He has a lower leg injury,” Oats said. “They’re worried about his Achilles tendon, which obviously wouldn’t be good. As soon as we get back, they’ll check him out. He’s going to get an MRI and see what’s going on. We keep our fingers crossed.”

The Crimson Tide will return to the stage on Wednesday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center. The game can be streamed on ESPN at 6:15 p.m. CT.