The 8th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide played host to 1st/2nd ranked Purdue on Thursday in a raucous Coleman Coliseum. In a game that had an Elite 8 or Final 4 feel, the Boilermakers outlasted the Tide 87-80 to improve to 3-0 on the season while Bama fell to 2-1. The sold out crowd provided a legitimate home crowd advantage, but the bigger, stronger Boilers wore Bama down at the end, scoring the final seven points of the game to secure the victory.
Coach Nate Oats sent out a starting five of Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway, Taylor Bol Bowen, Houston Mallette, and Aiden Sherrell. The game went back in forth in a fast paced first half. When Holloway hit his second three point shot with 12:10 left in the half the Tide took a 20-18 lead.
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-Holloway hit two more from deep for a 25-24 lead and to tie the game at 28-28. A Philon shot at the rim gave Bama a 30-28 lead with 7:35 left in the half. Sherrell scored for a 38-36 Alabama lead with 3:41 remaining. Despite being absolutely destroyed on the boards, the Tide’s hot shooting kept them in the game. The teams continued to trade baskets and Purdue took a 43-41 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Alabama shot 14-31 in the half for 45%, including 10-21 for 48% from deep. The Tide was 3-3 from the free throw line, as the very big and physical Boilermakers were allowed to play with no whistles being blown. The big issue was Bama only had 11 rebounds- and four of those were team rebounds. Alabama had 11 assists, three steals, one block, and committed only three turnovers. Holloway hit 4-6 three point shots to lead the team with 14 points. Bol Bowen had six points, and Philon only score two, but dished out five assists with one block and two steals. Amari Allen grabbed three rebounds to lead the team.
Purdue shot 19-37 for 51% with 5-12 for 42% from three point range. The Boilers missed their only two free throw attempts, grabbed 25 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass, dished out 11 assists, had six blocks, one steal, and only four turnovers. Trey Kaufman-Renn, coming off injury and playing in his first game of the year, led all scorers with 17 points and added eight rebounds. Pre season All American Braden Smith added eight points with four rebounds and three assists.
‘The Tide used the same starters for the second half. The action was still frantic, and the game went back and forth with neither team able to pull away. Purdue led 53-48 with 15:47 left before Bol Bowen and Latrell Wrightsell both hit three pointers for the Tide and a 54-53 Bama lead with 14:30 left in the game. Holloway drilled another from long range for a 59-57 with 12:15 remaining. The teams traded leads over the next several minutes. Sherrell hit both ends of a 1-1 to tie the game at 68 with 7:30 left on the clock. Purdue scored six straight for a 74-68 score. Mallette hit a three with 5:44 left to put the score at 74- 71 for the visitors. With 1:30 left Mallette hit another from deep to tie the game at 80-80. With Purdue leading 82-80 and 1:12 left in the game Philon was at the line for 1-1 to try and tie the game. However he missed the front end, and the Tide was held scoreless the rest of the way. With Bama unable to make any shots from the field they had to foul Purdue each time and the Boilers hit 7-8 down the stretch to take the hard fought victory.
In the second half Bama shot 14-35 for 40%, with only 6-23 for 26% from deep and made 5 of 7 free throws. Overall the Tide finished 28-66 for 42%, 16-44 from three for 36%, and 8-10 from the charity stripe. Alabama totaled only 28 rebounds- compared to 52 for Purdue- dished out 17 assists, blocked four shots, made eight steals, and turned the ball over only six times. Bama had four players in double digits, led by Holloway with 21 points , making 5-9 three point shots. Bol Bowen added 13, Sherrell knocked down 12 points, and Philon scored 11 on 5-14 shooting, including only 1-6 from deep and added seven assists, and tied for the team lead with four rebounds. Amari Allen also grabbed four rebounds.
Purdue shot 12-29 for 41% in the second period with 4-9 from three and 16-21 from the free throw line. Overall PU finished 31-66 for 41%, 9-21 from three for 44% and 16-23 for 70% on free shots. Smith showed why he is on player of the year watch lists with 29 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Kaufman-Renn finished with 19 points and added 15 rebounds. Oscar Cluff scored nine and rebounded 11 misses.
After the game Oats focused on the lack of rebounding by his team, saying ‘you can’t beat anyone being out rebounded by 25 in a game.“ Purdue took advantage of their huge size differential to control the boards on both ends. When the Tide cooled off their path to victory shrunk dramatically because their inability to get on the offensive glass.
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When all was said and done, the Tide ran into a big, tough, very experienced team and had a chance to win the game until the last 1:12 of the contest. The rebounding has to improve, especially in half’s or games when the shots stop falling. Still a very good Crimson Tide team that is playing a murders row of a schedule. With the injury bug still plaguing Alabama, getting Keitenn Bristow, Jalil Bethea, and Collins Onyejiakan back will give the team a boost.
Next up is a match up with highly ranked Illinois on Wednesday the 19th in Chicago at 8:30 p.m. CT. The game will be shown on TNT.
Roll Tide
