Tempers flared, handshakes went unshaken and trash cans were toppled over. However, calmer heads have since prevailed, and all seems to be well between the Alabama and Houston basketball programs.
Saturday night’s matchup between No. 9 Alabama and No. 14 Houston featured plenty of excitement as the game came down to a wild final minute that feature a pair of lead changes before freshman guard JD Davison swatted away a ball at the rim to secure an 83-82 victory for the Crimson Tide.
The drama didn’t stop there though. Following the play, Houston’s bench begged the referee to whistle Davison for a goaltending violation. Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson and guard Marcus Sasser followed officials off the court, pleading their case for the call to no avail. Meanwhile, Alabama head coach Nate Oats stood at midcourt, arm extended, as he had been snubbed of a handshake by a preoccupied Sampson.
From there, frustration boiled for the visitors. A video posted on social media showed a Houston staffer kicking a chair while forward Reggie Chaney knocked over a trash can, sending its remnants spilling to the floor.
Cougars guard Jamal Shead later picked up the mess, flipping the trash can back over before picking up the trash by hand. Sunday, Sampson also amended his team’s antics by reaching out to Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne as well as Oats in separate phone calls, Byrne revealed over social media. Alabama is set to travel to Houston next season for the other half of the home-and-home series.
The controversial play occurred in the closing seconds of the game. Following a missed 3-point attempt from Houston guard Kyler Edwards, Cougars forward Fabian White Jr. unsuccessfully tipped the ball twice toward the rim before his final attempt was cleared up by Davison after coming off the rim.
Following the game, Sampson said he was not given an explanation for the no-call which would have all but certainly won the game for his team.
“That was disappointing that he didn’t call that,” Sampson said. “I felt bad for my kids, not for me. I’ll live to fight another day. These kids have invested so much and they work so hard, and they played so hard tonight in a tough environment with a lot of things going against them, over and over and over.
“For us to rebound it twice and put the ball on the rim and he knocks it off the rim and there’s no call, that’s just a tough way to go down tonight.”
Different angles of the play have since been posted, showing that Davidson’s hand was not in the cylinder when he swatted away the ball. During his postgame press conference, Oats said that he understood Houston’s frustration while stating that he agreed with the call on the court.
"If I was in their shoes I'd be looking for a goaltend call, too," Oats said. "I think they wanted a review. I looked at the different angles. It looked nowhere close to being in the cylinder from what I saw."
The win marked Alabama’s second straight victory over a top-15 team as it took down then-No. 3 ranked Gonzaga last weekend in Seattle. Alabama (8-1) will look to continue its momentum on Tuesday when it travels to Memphis (5-4) for an 8 p.m. CT tipoff on ESPN.
