Alabama coach Nate Oats called out his team’s lack of toughness in the paint during the No. 8 Tide’s 87-80 loss to No. 2 Purdue at Coleman Coliseum Thursday night. (UA Athletics photo)
Alabama guard and former Baker High star Labaron Philon drives the baseline against Purdue’s Oscar Cluff Thursday night. Philon was held to 11 points. (UA Athletics photo)
Alabama guard Houston Mallette reacts after a three-pointer against Purdue Thursday night. The Tide made 16 of 44 threes. (UA Athletics photo)
TUSCALOOSA — It felt like an NCAA tournament game, only in November. Luckily for Alabama, it wasn’t because if it had been, the Crimson Tide’s basketball season would be over.
No. 2-ranked Purdue beat No. 8 Alabama 87-80 Thursday night before 13,474 fans who overloaded the eardrums in Coleman Coliseum. If decibels could have been converted into high voltage, the Boilermakers would have been fried in the biggest non-conference home game in UA history.
“It was loud,” Tide coach Nate Oats said, further observing it was an environment befitting the stature of his team. But after the noise had faded from the stands, Oats, a former high school algebra, geometry and statistics teacher, didn’t need a slide rule to tell him what went wrong.
“Until we figure out how to make tougher plays and rebound the basketball at a much higher level, we’re going to have a hard time beating the best teams in the country and I think it showed tonight,” he said in a stentorian warning to his team.
What inflamed Oats was his team turning into pudding in the paint. Alabama stayed close only because it carpet-bombed Purdue’s sagging man-to-man defense with 10 three-pointers in the first half and 16 in all — five by McDonald’s All-American Aden Holloway, who had 21 points.
A lot of threes (the Tide attempted 44) can mask a lot of flaws but Alabama’s got exposed in the glaring light before those in the arena and those watching on TV.
The only people in the coliseum wearing hard hats were the Boilermakers and the UA students — all of whom were packed into their seats long before the ball was tossed up and still euphoric about the Tide’s 103-96 win over No. 5 St. John’s last Saturday in Madison Square Garden. Alabama outscored the Johnnies 54-40 in the paint and the backcourt had 63 points, hanging 100 on Rick Pitino for the first time in 71 games.
Then Purdue proceeded to make that a distant memory, outrebounding the Tide 52-28, including 19-7 on the offensive glass. It outscored Alabama 30-22 in the paint and 16-7 off second-chance shots, more than enough to make the difference.
What raised Oats’ hackles even more was the Boilermakers’ 6-foot point guard Braden Smith playing as if he is 6-11.
“He’s the best point guard in the country,” Oats said admiringly after Smith, in his 113th consecutive start, scored 29 points, 21 in the second half. “He has seven rebounds and our starting frontcourt had six combined. So, we’ve got issues on the glass. We knew it in our exhibition games, we knew it in our intersquad scrimmages, we knew it up at St. John’s.”
Oats didn’t hide from what happened and let it be known his players had better man up, although the Tide still had a chance to win until inside the final minute, which was of no consolation.
“The tougher team won tonight,” Oats said. “They outrebounded us by 24. That’s embarrassing. Our guys are gonna have to decide whether they want to have a good season or whether they’re just gonna get out-toughed every game the rest of the year.”
Purdue proved rebounding and superior interior defense still win.
“I give Purdue a ton of credit,” Oats said. “They’re tough. I think they’re one of the most disciplined teams. They run their stuff in the halfcourt. They know how to attack all your coverages.”
Boilermakers coach Matt Painter also got what he wanted defensively — keeping Mobile’s Labaron Philon from penetrating and creating offense for himself and Alabama’s frontcourt and plugging fellow guard Latrell Wrightsell. Philon, the Tide’s leading scorer at 23.5 points per game coming in, finished with 11 points and Wrightsell 6, which combined didn’t come close to Smith’s 29.
The three-pointer is an Oats staple but Alabama was forced into trying a three on 17 straight possessions out of its set offense in the first half and 11 of 13 trips in one stretch of the second half.
“Philon’s a good player,” Painter said. “We wanted to keep it in front of us. We didn’t want to give their big guys slips. We simply told our guys, ‘We’ve got the best player in college basketball. Let’s stay with it and let’s not lose our minds if they make some of these threes.’”
Oats felt Philon didn’t break down Purdue’s defense enough.
“Labaron is one of the best guards at penetrating in the country and I didn’t think he attacked as well as he could have,” Oats said. “He had some matchups he could have gone at. If you do attack them, they’re gonna collapse. They don’t guard great one on one, so they’ve got good team defense. And if you collapse, we’ve got shooters all over the floor. I didn’t like our aggressiveness off the dribble at times, particularly in the second half.”
For all of the Tide’s flaws, the fans were enthralled through 21 lead changes and 14 ties, although Alabama led for only seven minutes — which perplexed and exasperated Oats given he felt his team was far more athletic.
“They’re not as athletic as we are, so they have to do it a different way,” Oats said. “They packed it in pretty tight. They tried to keep it out of the lane. I think when we drove it, we were able to spray it and get decent shots off. In the second half, I don’t think we moved as well as we did in the first half.”
The Tide still has everything to play for and a coach who knows what he’s doing — Oats’ 131 wins the last five seasons lead the SEC and Alabama has been ranked in 32 consecutive AP Top 25 polls.
But this team could get stuck in the muck of mediocrity if Thursday night’s weak effort on the boards remains a recurring and stabbing pain in the Tide’s side.
“That’s got to be a player-led deal,” Oats said. “At the end of the day, it’s about desire. You either want the ball or you don’t. If you’ve got the size and athleticism and you want to go get a rebound, you’re going to go get a rebound.”
Oats scowled, winced and gripped the podium as he admitted the truth in the postgame but he also knows something Painter said could be true: The loss could be one of the best things to happen to Alabama.
“The scheduling, shoot, if you’re trying to win at a high level in the NCAA tournament, you’re gonna have to go back-to-back on two really good teams,” Oats said.
