Alabama Basketball Leaves Legacy Arena with Another Loss
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It is the largest city in the state of Alabama and has the biggest contingent of Crimson Tide fans— over 15,000 of them showed up to the Legacy Arena for a top-15 matchup between No. 4 Alabama and No. 15 Gonzaga. It would seem like the perfect setting for a big Alabama basketball win with the entire arena buzzing before the opening tip.
And yet like Alabama's last five matchups against high-major opponents in Birmingham going back to 2015, the Crimson Tide lost Saturday afternoon 100-90 in the C.M. Newton Classic and sent the majority of the 15,847 fans in attendance home unhappy.
Alabama did beat Samford in Legacy Arena in December of 2019, but lost games in Birmingham to Oregon in 2015, Clemson in 2016, Texas in 2017 and Davidson last season.
This Saturday, when Alabama went up by nine points seven minutes into the game, the roof was about to explode. Yet after the opening minutes, it was hard for the large crowd to ever get back into it.
Gonzaga took the lead about halfway through the first half and continued to build upon it on the way to the 10-point win. Brandon Miller was spectacular on the day, finishing with a career-high 36 points, but every time his offense tried to spark the crowd, the defense would immediately give up a basket.
Miller said there was definitely some frustration in losing in front of the big Crimson Tide crowd, but it's all part of his learning process as a freshman.
Fellow freshman Jaden Bradley was Alabama's only other scorer in double figures. He had 18 points.
"Being able to play close to home, we wanted to get the win for the fans," Bradley said after the game. "But it’s a learning experience for us. Go back to the drawing board and see what we need to do to get better as a team. So it was a good experience for us.”
Technically the game was a neutral site game, but like last year's matchup between the two teams in Seattle, the crowd was heavily in favor of the team from the home state. It was a bit of a revenge game for the Bulldogs after Alabama won in Washington last December.
Gonzaga's senior forward Anton Watson was one of six Bulldogs to finish in double figures. He had family members in attendance that helped represent the small sliver of the Gonzaga crowd.
"I love those type of environments," Watson said after the game. "I think everyone here loves those type of environments, even if it's an away game. I enjoyed it. It was super fun.”
Alabama head coach Nate Oats said he was happy Birmingham got to see a good game of basketball despite it not going his team's way.
The Crimson Tide still might play in Birmingham again this season as Legacy Arena is one of the sites for First and Second Round NCAA games in March.
Alabama returns home for a game against Jackson State Tuesday night before a small break for the holidays heading into conference play.
See also:
Alabama Falls to Gonzaga in the C.M. Newton Classic, 100-90
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