Alabama Basketball Unable to Hold off Iona, Falls 72-68

It was not a happy Thanksgiving for No. 10 Alabama basketball at the opening round of the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Fla., as the Crimson Tide fell to the Iona Gaels, 72-68.

Poor shooting from beyond the arc as well as the free-throw line resulted in a lackluster night for the Alabama offense. With Iona forcing the Crimson Tide to drive into the paint rather than shoot from deep, the Gaels ultimately prevailed.

"I didn't think our guys necessarily played the right way," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. "I think J.D. [Davison] was the only guy with an assist halfway through the second half and he had three assists — we ended the game with seven assists."

In the first half, Alabama shot just five three-point attempts, which was on track to be the lowest number of attempts of the Nate Oats era for the Crimson Tide. Alabama made just one of those five attempts, a three-pointer by junior guard Jaden Shackelford near the midway point of the game's opening half.

The first half consisted of back-and-forth basketball, with neither team composing a significant run to pull away from the other. Six lead changes kept both teams on-pace with each other, and Alabama owned the largest lead with just four.

While the Crimson Tide turned the ball over eight times in the first half, the Gaels were only able to capitalize on the opportunities with four points. Alabama, on the other hand, turned Iona's six turnovers into nine points. The Crimson Tide also out-rebounded the Gaels 19-11, with an impressive 17 of those 19 rebounds coming off the defensive glass.

Alongside Shackelford, junior guard Jahvon Quinerly tied his teammate for most points in the first half with 10. Shackelford also led the team in rebounds with six.

At halftime, Alabama led Iona 33-29.

After Alabama jumped out to a nine-point lead to start the second half, Iona came storming back with a 10-1 run to tie the game with 9:59 remaining.

At the 5:33 mark, two free throws by Iona gave the Gaels its first lead since the first half. With the game's score at 59-57, Alabama had still just shot 13 three-point attempts and had only hit three of them. The Crimson Tide had also been given ample opportunity at the free-throw line, but had only managed to hit 12 of its 23 attempts.

With 56.1 seconds left on the game clock, a deep three by Shackelford put the game's score at 69-68, still in favor of Iona. A free throw put the Gaels up by two with 20.2 left. An Alabama timeout stalled the game, and Oats formed a game plan.

A blocked shot on the Alabama offensive end of the court forced the Crimson Tide to foul, putting Iona up by four points following two made free throws. Alabama was unable to come back in the final seconds, and the Gaels prevailed 72-68.

On the afternoon, the Crimson Tide shot just 17 three-point attempts, the second-lowest of the Oats era behind 16 last March against, ironically, Iona. Aside from Alabama's two games against Iona, the Crimson Tide has never shot less than 20 three-point attempts.

"We gotta do a little bit better job of moving the ball around and find out where the help comes from," Oats said. "Because we were able to get in the lane. [...] The help came, we just didn't always find the right reads to make.

"We gotta do a better job of understanding how teams are playing us and then make an adjustment on our offensive end, too."

From the free-throw line, Alabama hit just 13-of-25 — clearly the difference-maker of the game. With Iona hitting 16-of-21, the free-throw shooting could ultimately be pointed at as the reason for the Alabama loss.

"We only shot 13-of-25 from the free-throw line," Oats said. "I feel like when you lose yourself in the game playing the right way, free throws just kinda take care of themselves. I think sometimes you get worried about some of the other stuff, you don't get rewarded that way."

Regardless of the loss, it was still a solid night for Shackelford, who finished the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Quinerly also finished the game with 15 points but was the only other member of the Crimson Tide to score in the double-digits.

With the loss, Alabama will face Drake in the consolation round of the ESPN Events Invitational on Friday at 3:30 p.m. CT (ESPNU).

"Sometimes it's better to take a loss and learn from it," Oats said. "I mean, if we played the same way and happened to make some free throws and win the game maybe you don't learn the lessons you need to out of the game.

"We gotta learn, though. We gotta move on."