Alabama found itself in another thriller in the finale of the Players Era Festival on Saturday. After gutting out wins over Houston and Rutgers, the Crimson Tide fell just short 83-81 against a scrappy Oregon side. No. 9 Alabama (6-2) dropped its second game of the season to finish runner-up in the first edition of the multi-team event.

The Tide certainly didn't go down without a fight. Alabama nearly came all the way back despite being down five points with 31 seconds left after a steal and free throw by Mark Sears, followed by a Mouahmed Dioubate offensive rebound that led to two more made free throws and tied the game at 81.

After a quick Oregon bucket, Grant Nelson's final layup at the buzzer didn't get off in time and the Tide was unable to make an improbable comeback. Despite the defeat, Alabama will still earn $1.25 million for its NIL collective for finishing second place, and the team certainly gained some much-needed experience against three quality opponents during the tournament.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s final game of the Player’s Era Festival.

The manner in which both teams got buckets Saturday started to identify itself quickly. Oregon’s offensive discipline allowed the Ducks to consistently create opportunities in the paint, while Alabama was its usual free-shooting self and, like in its win over Rutgers, found success from 3-point range.

Oregon scored over half of its 39 first-half total in the lane and finished with 38 points in the paint. The Ducks targeted mismatches and switched to create them. They also leaned heavily on center Nate Bittle, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, including the game-winning putback dunk.

Alabama started to slip in the second half after guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. left the game with a lower leg injury. The Tide’s shot stopped falling and Oregon extended the lead to double digits midway through the second half. But like any disciplined Nate Oats side, Alabama didn’t waiver or stop shooting. The Tide went on a quick 12-4 run to cut into the Ducks advantage. Forward Jarin Stevenson hit three more 3s and seems to have re-discovered his shooting form. Stevenson finished with 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range.

"I think this is the Jarin we were looking for this year," Oats said after the game. "It's great that he hung in there and got his confidence going. He made big plays, I thought he was really good for us on defense tonight. Made three 3s tonight. Made some obviously the game before but he's gonna be a big part of what we do this year."

As the game wore on, both teams started to flip their style to counter the other. Alabama narrowed the deficit in post-scoring and had finished 30 points in the paint on offense. While Oregon got Bittle going in the lane, the Ducks — specifically guard Keeshawn Barthelemy — started to hit a few key 3s. Barthelemy finished with 22 points on four made shots from beyond the arc to help knock off the Tide.

While Alabama’s pace was much quicker against Oregon than it was in Wednesday’s game against Rutgers, it still made mistakes thanks to some casual play with the basketball and due to Oregon’s strong defense.

Alabama turned the ball over 15 times Saturday night. Nine of those turnovers came in the first half and helped Oregon go on a 10-2 run to grab the lead during the opening period. On offense, Alabama got the ball into the frontcourt quickly — and even capitalized on some transition buckets — but in halfcourt sets, Tide players seemed to get stuck without an option when they drove into the lane to get a paint touch, then looked to kick the ball out. Alabama was too casual with the ball while Oregon’s defense cut off passing lanes and stayed with players who moved off the ball.

"Turnovers have been killing us here in Vegas last game and this game," Oats said. "The points off turnovers 17-5 and it's hard to overcome that. So we gotta figure out a way to take care of the basketball better, and it's everybody. Everybody on the team except for Wrightsell turned the ball over tonight. We had multiple guys with multiple turnovers and the turnovers 15-8 and the points are 17-5 off turnovers its hard to overcome that. So I thin that was our biggest issue."

Conversely, Oregon was much more careful in possession on offense. The Ducks didn’t commit their first turnover until the 6:03 mark of the first half and finished with just 3. Oregon finished with just eight turnovers as Alabama failed to cause the same disruptions as the Ducks did on defense.

Oregon continued to turn up the pressure while Alabama kept coughing up the ball. That recipe helped Oregon go on another 15-5 up an eight-point lead with just over 12 minutes left. Alabama was only able to work its way back into the game by finally cleaning things up after it reached double figures in turnovers. Alabama's defense also started to come alive late. Stevenson nearly had the play of the game for Alabama when he swatted an Oregon fastbreak layup attempt, but the officials ruled it as goaltending.

Alabama freshman guard Labaron Philon has been one of college basketball’s breakout stars in the opening few weeks of the season. But newcomer's form didn’t seem to follow him to Las Vegas at first. Philon combined for just five points in Alabama’s wins over Houston and Rutgers after having huge scoring bursts against Illinois and Purdue.

Instead of letting his head drop, Philon found his groove in the championship game. He scored eight points in a four minute span in the first half to kickstart another outstanding performance for Alabama. The freshman guard led Alabama with 15 points.

Philon is still developing his outside game. He was shooting just 25% from 3-point range heading into the game but drilled both of his attempts from deep Saturday. He also showed off the tenacious effort and playmaking that has become a staple of Philon's game. He matched Nelson's output with seven rebounds and had a pair of assistants and a steal.

With the Players Era Festival in the books, Alabama will begin preparing for a trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Crimson Tide will face No. 12 North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m. Wednesday inside the Dean E. Smith Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.