Alabama basketball avoids hangover game with 88-74 victory over Missouri

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — At times, Alabama basketball looked to be suffering the type of Saturday-afternoon lull that often follows busy nights on The Strip in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide had three days to come off its Wednesday-night upset over No. 4 Auburn. However, head coach Nate Oats was still wary of a potential hangover game halting momentum built up from the pre-week excitement.

TAKE THREE: Alabama battles past Missouri 88-74

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Playing against a Missouri team that entered the day losers in three of its last four games, Alabama slumped to a slow start in front of a packed house in Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide started the game 1 of 6 from the floor and 1 of 6 from beyond the arc and failed to put the game out of reach after the Tigers suffered an 0-for-10 streak that lasted more than 10 minutes.

It turns out the best cure for a hangover is a heavy dose of deep shots. Alabama took a season-high 39 of those, and eventually, they started to fall as the Crimson Tide was able to pull away for an 88-74 victory. Alabama (10-7, 3-2 in the SEC) finished the night 45 percent from the floor while making 13 of 39 (33.3 percent) of its shots from beyond the arc.

"I thought it was a huge win for our guys," Oats said. "You know, we talked to them about answering the bell a big win against Auburn, it's kind of human nature to have a letdown possibly, but we needed to avoid that. I thought we came out the game maybe a tad sluggish, but we picked it up there in the first half and then got ourselves a lead."

Big games from John Petty Jr., Alex Reese and Jaden Shackelford helped reignite Alabama’s offense as the Crimson Tide eventually found its footing. The trio combined for 11 3s, including nine in the first half as Alabama rebounded from its 1 of 6 start from beyond the arc by hitting 10 of its next 19 shots from deep to take a 47-40 lead into the break.

Missouri (9-8, 1-4) was able to stay in striking distance lackluster afternoon shooting performance from the floor. The Tigers connected on 31 percent of their field-goal attempts and shot 25 percent (5 of 20) from beyond the arc but capitalized on numerous trips to the charity stripe, hitting on all 31 of their free-throw attempts. The 31 made threes without a miss sets an SEC record. Alabama was also solid from the line, converting on 25 of its 30 free-throw attempts.

"For us to still win by 14 when they set an SEC record for number of free throws made and 100 percent, that speaks a lot to what else we were doing well," Oats said, "because we didn't do a very good job keeping them off the free-throw line."

Missouri chipped Alabama’s lead down to 71-68 with 7:34 remaining when Herbert Jones was called for a foul after running down the floor to block a layup. The call, which was reviewed and upheld, drew a chorus of boos from the agitated Crimson Tide faithful which became increasingly impatient with the lack of home-court decisions.

However, tensions were eased a bit as Petty connected on a 3 from the top of the arc to give Alabama an 80-72 advantage with 4:08 to play, bringing Coleman to its feet and providing the Crimson Tide with the momentum it needed to close out the game.

"It was a big 3," Petty said. "It really is just Coach gives us the green light to shoot 3s in transition if you're open. So I really just walked up — I saw his feet inside the 3-point line, and I shot it with confidence. We are told any time we are open, you shoot with confidence. I feel like that's what all our players do, and sometimes we tend to hit."

Petty led Alabama with 20 points while Reese and Shackelford had 17 points apiece. Jones recorded his second straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Missouri was led by guard Dru Smith, who scored 18 points. Mark Smith had 15 points while Kobe Brown and Xavier Pinson both had 11 points.

After back-to-back home games, Alabama will hit the road for its next game as it travels to Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT. The Commodores (8-8, 0-3) entered Saturday with a four-game losing streak.

Alabama won both of its meetings against Vanderbilt last season, winning 77-67 in Nashville, Tenn., before completing the sweep with a 68-61 victory in Tuscaloosa. Before last year’s road win against the Vanderbilt, Alabama had lost 14 of its last 15 games against the Commodores inside Memorial Gym.

Vanderbilt will be without second-team Preseason All-SEC forward Aaron Nesmith, who is likely to miss the remainder of the season after sustaining an injury to his right foot against Texas A&M earlier this month. Nesmith leads the SEC averaging 23.0 points per game.

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