The Alabama Crimson Tide needed a victory to get back on track, so they traveled to Gainesville on Tuesday night. Rather, Nate Oats
was pushed around by a Florida team that was more focused, aggressive, and physically stronger. With little resistance from the
Crimson Tide, the Gators emerged victorious. Before the first half ended, the game was practically done. The final score of the game
was 105-87, with the Crimson Tide being outmatched in every aspect.
The two areas where Nate Oats’ squad excelled were. One was that Florida did an excellent job of defending Mark Sears. Still, he
scored 33 points. The other was that for the course of Sears and Aaron Estrada’s combined 36+ minutes of action, the Tide pair turned
the ball over a total of just
Shooting Trends for Basketball in Alabama
The claim that Nate Oats’ teams depend on the three-ball to win or lose is untrue. But other offensive and defensive players need to
step up when the Tide, for whatever reason, isn’t making baskets outside of the arc. In Gainesville, it did not occur on Tuesday night.
Alabama was 5-for-23 outside the arc against the Gators. In Saturday’s loss to Tennessee, Alabama missed its last 14 three-pointers,
adding to that depressing statistic to give the Tide a 13.5% three-point percentage on its previous 37 attempts. Though 37 shots are
sufficient to identify a trend, and the tendency does not favor the Crimson Tide, credit to the Vols and Gators for their defensive efforts
against Bama.
Alabama was holding onto a projected #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament heading into the Florida matchup. Most Bracketology
estimates indicate that it will drop to either a 6-seed or one of the lower 5-seeds.
The Crimson Tide needs to rally and reassemble themselves as one of the SEC’s best teams. It was nowhere like as good as that versus
Florida. The uncertainty surrounding Rylan Griffen’s injury status makes things more difficult. “Rylan has a calf injury and is getting
an MRI tomorrow,” Nate Oats stated following the game. All I know about that is that.”
Head coach of the Crimson Tide, in a quintessential example of understatement, observed, “We let our offensive frustrations lead to
some defensive letdowns.”
There’s no place for defensive letdowns and offensive frustrations in March, especially when playing elite opponents.
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