The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's loss against Oklahoma

The nine-game winning streak came to an end in Norman on Saturday as Oklahoma crushed No. 2 Alabama 93-69.

"Oklahoma came ready to play and we obviously didn't," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "I told the guys coming in that they had a bunch of one-possession losses and were much better than their record indicated. They were ready to go and I don't think they were. We never really got back in it."

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's blowout loss to Oklahoma.

For the second-consecutive game, Alabama didn't play like the No. 2 team in the country, especially in the first half.

Similar to what Mississippi State did on Wednesday, Oklahoma came out of the gate on fire making 10 consecutive field goals en route to a dominating first half where the Sooners shot 68% from the field. The Sooners tallied 50 points in the first 20 minutes after scoring 56, 60 and 52 during their three-game losing streak coming into Saturday. As for the Crimson Tide, 50 points is the most it has allowed in the first half this season.

While the defense couldn't slow down the Sooner offense, Alabama's offense struggled to get going, shooting 33% from the field and going 3-for-10 from behind the arc.

"Our guys aren't accustomed to being ranked second in the country this late in the year," Oats said. "They literally stormed the floor after the game. The team's going to be ready. The fans are going to be ready. Everybody's going to be ready. ... I don't think we realize we're getting everybody's 'A' game and our defense was nowhere close to where it needed to be to compete in this game."

ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes perfectly described how easy it was for Grant Sherfield to set a new season high of 30 points.

"He's getting whatever he wants" and "Easy money" was the soundtrack for the senior's day as he crossed up and shot over any challenge Alabama threw at him.

After going 2-for-4 to start Saturday's game, Sherfield hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key which sparked a run where the senior didn't miss a shot for the rest of the first half. Sherfield kept up the offensive barrage in the second half recording 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the final frame.

"We had no answer for him," Oats said. "He's really good we knew that coming in but we obviously didn't do a good enough job."

When Sherfield wasn't scoring, Oklahoma turned to Jalen Hill who recorded his second 20-point performance of the season, tallying 26 points of 9-of-11 shooting. Hill's day was highlighted by his thunderous dunk over Brandon Miller which served as the exclamation point in Oklahoma's thumping of Alabama on Saturday.

"You can't have guys like Jalen Hill, he had 26 (points) and 8 (rebounds). Tanner Groves was good. They were all good all the way across the board and they are a good team."

With Alabama struggling to get its offense going, the team went back to old habits — isolation basketball and heaving up contested shots. The Crimson Tide tossed up 20 3-pointers and converted just four for the game.

While the entire team couldn't score from deep, Mark Sears and Noah Clowney's struggles were noticeable. Clowney is now 0-for-24 in his last six games but Oats maintained the need for the freshman to keep shooting from deep as he averaged 40% from deep in his senior season at Dorman High School in South Carolina. Clowney finished two rebounds shy of a double-double but shot 30% from the field and 50% from the line, both falling below his season averages.

As for Mark Sears, he also was one of five players to record 10 or more points, finishing with 11 in Saturday's loss, but shot 40% from the field. The junior is now 3-for-21 from behind the arc over his last four games which has dropped his 3-point shooting percentage below 36% for the season.