Alabama Athletics
Alabama Basketball Drops Season Opener to Penn, 81-80
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Although Kira Lewis Jr. had a massive night, he couldn't make a pair of free throws with the game on the line as the Alabama men's basketball team dropped its season opener in Coleman Coliseum, losing to Penn 81-80.
With his team down by one, the sophomore guard was fouled and went to the line with 2.5 remaining on the clock.
“I think our guys played hard for the most part,” Nate Oats said after his Crimson Tide debut as head coach. “You know, we got a lot of mistakes to fix. Like I told our guys, we’re not supposed to be playing our best basketball on November 5th. We’re supposed to be playing our best basketball come February or March — you know — in SEC games, so we've got a lot to fix.”
Despite missing the free throws Lewis led the Crimson Tide in both points (30) and rebounds (eight).
“It was tough to lose like that, but you just got to keep moving forward,” Lewis said. “After this I’m going to have to go and shoot some free throws because I just can’t live with not making free throws at the end of the game.
“I feel like this will be a learning lesson for us and later on in the season you’ll see a team that’s been experienced in this situation, so there’s really a lot of basketball to go.”
Freshman guard Jaden Shackelford and graduate-student guard James “Beetle” Bolden also scored in double-digits for Alabama, with 16 and 10, respectively.
One key statistic that Penn dominated was points in the paint. The Quakers registered 42 points opposed to 30 for the Crimson Tide. They not only exposed the interior defense near the net, but forced Alabama out of its transition game and not get stops, which is what the offense thrives upon.
“It really affects us,” Oats said. “We’re so much better in transition, and when you’re pulling a ball out of the net it’s a lot harder to get out in transition.
“Some of this is on [the coaching staff], some of it — we just got to get better. We’ve way too many defensive breakdowns like you said, and then we couldn’t get out in transition on offense like we really like to do.”
Alabama came out swinging in the first half, jumping out to an early 11-5 lead. Penn was able to counter, though, and maintained the lead for the majority of the half.
With just over eight minutes left in the first half, junior guard Herbert Jones went down with a hyperextended left elbow and did not return.
Both teams entered the locker room deadlocked at 35 points apiece.
To start the second half, Penn went on an 8-0 run, taking a 43-35 lead. The Quakers maintained their lead throughout the remainder of the half, seemingly having an answer for everything Alabama threw their way. However, the Crimson Tide kept up.
With 20 seconds left, Lewis scored a huge 3-point jumper to give Alabama the 80-79 lead. However, Penn made a jumper of its own by freshman guard Jordan Dingle.
He led the Quakers with 24 points, with seven rebounds.
Penn’s offense was overall more balanced, with four of its players scoring double-digits. The Quakers also outshot the Crimson Tide in all aspects, leading in field goal percentage (43%), 3-point percentage (31%) and free-throw percentage (75%).
The win marked Penn’s first victory over an SEC team since a 71–63 defeat of Florida in 1996.
“Sometimes if you win, you know, if that goaltending call gets called the other way we win the game or a couple of free throws go in at the end we win," said Oats, referring to a late call against Petty. "Sometimes all the mistakes we made all game, guys think that they’re ok getting away with it, so sometimes you need to take a loss and taking a loss early isn’t always the worst as long as your guys are resilient enough to come back.”
Alabama takes on Florida Atlantic on Monday at Coleman Coliseum (SEC Network+).
