Published Mar 9, 2024
Alabama basketball clinches No. 3 seed in SEC Tournament
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Jack Knowlton  •  TideIllustrated
Staff Writer
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@JackKnowlton_

Alabama basketball avoided a disaster scenario that would have seen it possibly miss out on the double-bye in the SEC Tournament with a 92-88 win over Arkansas on Saturday. The Crimson Tide (21-10, 13-5 SEC) clinched a spot in the top four and won’t play until Friday when it makes the trip to Nashville, Tennessee.

Alabama officially earned the No. 3 seed after No. 15 Kentucky took down No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday. The Wildcats and Crimson Tide finished with the same 13-5 conference record, but Kentucky’s 117-95 thumping of Alabama earlier this season gave the Wildcats the tiebreaker for second place.

Alabama won the tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed over Auburn and South Carolina after all three teams finished 13-5. The Tide took down the Gamecocks earlier this season and holds the tiebreaker over the Tigers due to having a better win-loss record against teams descending from the No. 1 seed. Alabama and Auburn both lost to Tennessee and Kentucky and have wins over South Carolina. However, Alabama went 1-1 against Florida while Auburn lost its only matchup against the Gators, giving Alabama the tiebreaker for third place.

While it wasn’t able to win the league title, a bye until Friday will be huge for a Crimson Tide team to have a few extra days to rest and prepare. It could also be the difference in whether or not Rylan Griffen is available for Alabama. Griffen was ruled out of Saturday’s contest with a calf injury and remains day-to-day.

“Our starting guards played 42, 40 and 39 minutes (against Arkansas),” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “If you're going to try to do that over four straight days it's gonna be very difficult. Even playing over three straight games is going to be hard. So it'd be helpful if we get Rylan back, or Sam (Walters) or Davin (Cosby Jr.) really step up and give us some minutes.”

Alabama's possible first opponents in the SEC Tournaments are No. 6 Florida, No. 11 Georgia or No. 14 Missouri. The Crimson Tide's Friday matchup will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of Kentucky’s matchup against the No. 7/No. 10 seed, which tips off at 6 p.m. CT.