Alabama Basketball Bitten by Georgia Down Low in Road Loss

Bulldogs can become dangerous in close-range situations if they feel threatened by an adversary.

No. 16 Alabama basketball lost its road finale and penultimate game of the regular season to Georgia 98-88 on Tuesday evening. While the final 10 minutes of the game were somewhat of a 3-point shooting contest between these SEC foes, that wasn't the case in the beginning.

Every field goal made before the first media timeout of the game was either a layup or a dunk. The Bulldogs proceeded to bite head coach Nate Oats and company down low, as Georgia logged eight offensive rebounds compared to UA's four.

This led to eight second-chance points in the first half, while Alabama tallied zero. It played a big role in creating separation early, and the Tide had to play catch-up throughout. The same could be said for the points in the paint disparity during the opening period — Georgia 22, Alabama 10.

“We didn’t come ready to play," Oats told Crimson Tide Sports Network at halftime. "Too many turnovers early. Gave up a bunch of O-boards. We've got to get these guys ready to go in the second half. We’re lucky to only be down 7. If we would’ve got the stop at the end there, we would have been a lot better off. But we got to come with some better energy in the second half.”

The Crimson Tide only had one turnover in the second half and offensively outrebounded the Bulldogs 7-5, but UGA still had 11 second-chance points to UA's nine.

Georgia has earned the nickname "Dunkyard Dawgs" due to its status of leading the nation in percentage of field goals that are dunks (18.8 percent coming into Tuesday). Individually, forward Somto Cyril leads in D-I players in dunks with 75 rim rattlers. The Bulldogs were successful on all six of its dunk attempts, which played a role in hyping up the Athens crowd.

Georgia finished the game with 40 points in the paint. Alabama had 18. Georgia put up 25 second-chance points. Alabama tallied nine.

"They played harder than us," Oats said during the postgame press conference. "They turned us over. 21 points off turnovers, they destroyed us on the second-chance points. Add those two numbers up there, 46 points second-chance to our 24. So when you lose that by 22 points, it's going to be really hard to win the game.

"We didn't get our first second-chance points until 12 minutes or something to go in the second half. I mean, it's like our rebounding issues are just killing us right now."

Depth down low has been an issue for Alabama all season long. Forward Aiden Sherrell came into this one ranked second in the SEC in blocks per game with 2.3 (Cyril is first with 2.5), but when he's low on energy or in foul trouble, the Tide hasn't exactly had an ideal candidate to sub in for him. Center Noah Williamson is the only 7-footer on the team, but he averages less than 10 minutes per game.

Before Tuesday night's loss, Alabama had won its previous eight games. While Sherrell was dominant during the streak, there were a couple of players like forwards London Jemison, Amari Allen and Taylor Bol Bowen who stepped up for him when he went to the bench. But it hasn't been consistent enough.

Alabama will play its final game of the regular season at home on Saturday against Auburn in the second rendition of the Iron Bowl of Basketball. The Tide won the first meeting on Feb. 7 in Neville Arena, and a victory this weekend would clinch Oats and company the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.