Alabama basketball, despite a really good first half, had a really sloppy second half and held on to beat Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
“I really love this group. They’re all about the right stuff that you need to be a great teammate,” said head coach Nate Oats after the win.
Alabama had to play understaffed yet again, with Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell Jr., and Keiteen Bristow all out with injuries. Still, it was able to get Miami transfer Jalil Bethea back from injury.
Bethea made his debut with two points and three rebounds in just six minutes as he tried to get back into the swing of things.
London Jemison continues to make strides as a freshman, earning more and more minutes with another game in double-figures with 13 points on 3-6 from deep.
Alabama basketball also picked up its third Quad 1 win so far this season.
Amari Allen and Labaron Philon Jr. take over down the stretch
Labaron Philon made things happen yet again when the Tide needed a response in the second half was able to deliver with multiple three-point plays in crunch time to fend the Tigers off while in foul trouble. Philon tied his career-high with an efficient 29 points on 9-17 from the floor and had struggled in the previous games from the charity stripe and was a perfect 8-8. Philon now has six games of 20+ points.
Coming off back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week honors, Amari Allen continued to shine on the floor. He was able to get downhill with ease and finished with contact in crunch time in the second half with a career-high 20 points and his first of what will likely be many double-doubles on the season with 11 rebounds.
“Amari has been a winner since the day he walked in,” said Oats.
Clemson dominated the paint, but Aiden Sherrell had a block party
Clemson got back into the game with its production in the paint. RJ Godfrey, Jake Wahlin, and Nick Davidson were able to almost score at will and back down the Tide bigs in the lane. Just in the second half alone, the Tigers had 32 points in the paint, and when the outside shot was not falling, with 4-19 in the whole game, they had to rely on what was a strength throughout the game.
Aiden Sherrell continued to make strides to be the anchor in the paint and had a block party with eight blocks, which had not happened since Donta Hall did it back in the 2018 season against Oklahoma and Trae Young. Last season, Sherrell had seven blocks in just this game alone, and now has 21 on the season, and was also awarded another hard hat for the season.
Sherrell also had 10 rebounds, and despite 3-8 from the free-throw line, finished with 5 points and was very close to a triple-double.
The Tigers outrebounded the Tide 43-39, but as long as the margin is close, the Tide will be able to get a lot more wins.
Tale of two halves
Alabama basketball started the game on fire from three, hitting its first four in a row from deep, and led by as much as 19, holding Clemson to 30% from the floor, and did not trail for the first 30 seconds of the half. The Tide turned defense into offense, going 8-for-18 from deep.
“When you get up 19 in the first 10 minutes of the game, you’d like to close the next 30 better than we did. But with the guys we were down, happy to get the win,” said Oats.
In the second half, especially in the first 10 minutes, the Tide seemed to hit a wall despite the 15-point lead, especially on the offensive front, with a six-minute drought from the field that allowed Clemson to catch the Tide lacking in transition with easy buckets to cut into the lead and make it a barn-burner down the stretch.
Both teams were exchanging buckets and lead changes down the stretch, but the Tide held on to hold Clemson scoreless from the field for the final 2:41, with the only points from the free throw line, which allowed the lead to get comfortable enough not to have the fans in Coleman sweat it out.
Next for Clemson basketball (7-2): vs. BYU (Tues., Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m. EST)
Next for Alabama basketball (6-2): vs. Clemson (Sun., Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. EST)