FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — Alabama nearly completed a trifecta of losses by the top three teams in the AP Poll. After No. 6 Florida took down No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke was shocked by Clemson, the Crimson Tide nearly collapsed after taking an 18-point lead, sneaking past Arkansas 85-81 Saturday inside Bud Walton Arena.
The Tide seemed to be cruising to another win away from home. It got off to an 11-6 start to the second half and turned the ball over just once in the first eight minutes of the final period, ballooning its lead to 18 points with 8:01 to play.
Struggles to start both the first and second halves have been a plague for Alabama against inferior competition on paper. The Tide seemed to overcome those against Arkansas until it got complacent with a big lead. The Razorbacks stormed back with a 23-8 run to make it a 3-point game with 2:57 left.
“We had some turnovers there after we built the 18-point lead,” Alabama coach Nate Oats told reporters after the game. “We missed a couple shots we should have made. We got to make free throws. We had some turnovers there when they were on their run, and we didn’t do a very good job guarding some of their actions. They just got downhill. We didn’t have the help where it was supposed to be. We missed some switches we were supposed to have.
"I thought they were starting to run out of energy, and it looked to me like maybe we ran out of some energy. And maybe I gotta have some other guys in there. Some guys were tired. I don’t know. But I’m gonna have to look at that film on that last kind of 10 minutes of the game and see what happened."
Alabama recovered from the blow to close out its ninth win in SEC play and go level with Auburn at the top of the conference. Oats will have some time to go over the game before Alabama's next matchup to help his side avoid a similar collapse.
But Oats made one thing clear in his assessment of Saturday’s game — Alabama’s complacency when it was up big signaled a lack of maturity that still has to be found this season.
“I’m a little irritated because we played really well for 30 minutes,” Oats told reporters after the game. “We got the turnovers fixed to start the second half and then — again, I gotta go back and look, but I feel like our guys just relaxed when we got [up 18].”
Oats pointed out the strong points of Alabama’s performance. It forced Arkansas to take 19 mid-range 2-point shots while Alabama didn’t take any of the shots he considers to be the least efficient on the court. Oats credited Alabama for shooting 54.8% from the field despite hitting just 5 of 19 from 3-point range and praised depth in scoring that saw four players finish in double figures and the Tide’s bench outscore Arkansas 31-11.
However, Oats also said he felt his team wasn’t tuned in enough on the defensive end and pointed out a change in his team's energy when it thought it was up 20 – a Labaron Philon layup was later waived off for goaltending — and Bud Walton Arena started emptying.
The loyal Razorback fans who stayed reaped the benefit of Alabama’s nonchalant mindset. Oats was forced to call a timeout after Arkansas went on a 7-2 run with 5:55 to play. The Razorbacks later went on a 7-0 run out of the under-four-minute media timeout.
“We’ve showed these guys all kinds of end-of-game situations from different teams throughout the country this year,” Oats said. "We gotta realize an 18-point lead, we’re not playing just to win the game. We almost lost the game after being up 18. We’re not playing to win the game, we’re playing to get better on every possession and when you start playing the scoreboard and you don’t play the game better on every possession, that’s the stuff that happens to you.”
Alabama was once again able to learn a hard lesson while avoiding defeat. But it can ill-afford a similar performance in the second of its two-game road trip when it faces Texas. The Longhorns have lost two straight games but have defeated ranked Texas A&M and Missouri teams at home. If Alabama wants to make it to its game against No. 1 Auburn with just one SEC loss, Oats’ message regardless of Saturday night’s result will have to resonate.
The Tide (20-3, 9-1 SEC) and Longhorns (15-9, 4-7) fell 86-78 to Vanderbilt on Saturday. Alabama will tip off against Texas at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday inside the Moody Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
