So much for the double bye. The 2nd seeded Alabama Crimson Tide didn’t start SEC Tournament play until Friday, earning a double bye. The Tides opponent was 15th seeded Ole Miss, who had lost 14 of their 15 games entering play in Nashville. The Rebels began SEC Tournament on Wednesday and were playing their third game in three days. Ole Miss has yet to trail during their miracle run to the semifinals. Alabama fell to 23-9 on the season while Mississippi improved to 15-19. Bama will now have several days, and await their draw in the NCAA Tournament. Look for the Tide to be a fourth or fifth seed on Sunday when the bracket is announced.
Alabama started Labron Philon, Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell, Amari Allen, and Aiden Sherrell in the game. Ole Miss sent out a lineup of Malik Dia, James Scott, Ilias Kamardine, Travis Perry, and Patton Pinkins. The Rebels jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed in the game. Holloway hit a pair of three pointers to tie the score at 6-6 before Mississippi went on a run to forge a lead they never relinquished. After falling behind by 13 the Tide went into the locker room trailing 47-41.
Alabama shot 14-30 for 47%, including 6-16 for 38% from deep, and made 7-11 free throws. The team totaled only 14 rebounds in the half, with eight assists, one block, one steal, and turned it over only three times. Philon scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting and had a pair of assists. Holloway scored 12 of his own on 4-7 shooting. Sherrell added seven points and four rebounds. No one else contributed much of anything.
Ole Miss shot 18-35 for 51%, 3-8 from three, and 8-9 at the charity stripe. The Rebels had 20 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, three blocks, and only two turnovers. AJ Storr led the team with 13 point off the bench. Pinkins added 11 and Dia notched 10.
The same starters came out for the second half. The Rebels continued to build on the lead through much of the frame. With 13:52 left the score was 63-50. Philon kept the Tide afloat and with 8:58 left the margin was down to four points and 66-62. Bama had several opportunities but continued to miss shots at the rim. The score was 75-71 withe 3:48 left when with the shot clock running down Kamardine threw up a prayer that somehow found the bottom of the net for a 78-71 score.
Philon made a layup and Sherrell made a dunk and with 1:25 left the score was 78-75. After trading baskets, Philon hit two free throws with 13.4 second left to make the score 80-79 and set up a frantic finish. Ole Miss missed the front end of a one and one and Bama had a chance. Philon got into the lane and looked to have a chance at a winning hoop, but dropped the ball off to Sherrell, and his try was blocked as he went up. Bama fouled immediately and the Rebels again missed free throw. With 0.5 seconds left Alabama had to go the length of the court. After the pass the team got a shot off the hit the rim, but would not have counted and the clock ran out.
Alabama shot 12-34 in the half and only 3-13 from deep while making 11-14 free throws. Overall Bama finished 26-62 for 41%, 9-29 from three for 31% and 18-25 for 72% on free shots. The Tide got on the boards in the second half and finished with 36 rebounds, 14 assists, four blocks, five steals, and only five turnovers. Philon shined with 28 points on 9-16 shooting overall and 5-7 from deep, while grabbing four rebounds with four assists and only one turnover. His running mate Holloway finished with 18 points. Sherrell notched 14 points with six rebounds. Taylor Bol Bowen scored eight and Allen scored only five but did grab 11 rebounds, all in the second half. Wrightsell failed to make a single shot.
Ole Miss shot 13-32 in the second for 41%, 5-11 from deep, and 2-6 on free throws. Overall the Rebels were 31-67 for 46%, 8-19 for 42% from three, and 10-15 at the stripe. OM had 42 rebounds, 14 assists, five blocks, three steals, and nine turnovers. Storr led with 17 points, Kamardine tossed in 16, Dia added 14, and Pinkins 13.
This was a loss to a bad team that was playing their third game in three days. Several guys seemed to not show up. Ole Miss changed their strategy from the teams earlier meeting and decided to run the Tide off the three point line as much as possible and force them inside. Bama had chances at the rim, but shot only 8-22 on layups. One more of those go down and the Tide would be playing on the semifinals today. The extra couple of days of rest might not be a bad thing, but you always want to win as many games as possible and have a chance at a title. As it is Arkansas and Ole Miss will play today to see who faces the Vanderbilt-Florida winner.
Now we wait until Sunday to see where the Tide will be sent and what this matchup will be.
Roll Tide!
