Alabama hosted 2nd-ranked Purdue in a massive early season matchup tonight and the game lived up to its billing, but in the end Purdue got it done by a score of 87-80.
The contrasting styles were evident from the opening tip. As much as we expected to see Purdue dominate the glass, the reality was arguably worse than we imagined. Alabama was playing with high effort on defense and was able to force Purdue to take quite a few midrange jumpers. The Boilermakers can shoot the lights out so they made their share, but when they didnt it seemed that Alabama had no ability to keep them off of the glass. Purdue took advantage of some early second chance points to jump out to a 18-11 lead, and there was some concern that the game could get out of hand.
Fortunately, Alabamas advantage showed up as well. The Boilermakers keyed on Labaron Philon and committed to keeping him out of the paint, but the Tides ball movement was superb. Even more fortunately, Alabama was scorching hot from behind the arc to help offset the disparity in the post. Six different players knocked down at least one three pointer, led by four from Aden Holloway, as the Tide knocked down 10 of 21. Purdues Trey Kauffman-Renn tossed in several of his weird looking push shots to lead all scorers with 17, and Purdue led 43-41 at the break.
The intensity picked up coming out of the locker room, as both teams looked to create some separation on the scoreboard with pressure defense. Purdue particularly focused on running the Tide off of the three point line, a sound strategy considering the first-half barrage, and forced Alabama into a few of the mid-range shots that Nate Oats loathes. Four minutes in, Purdue led by five at 53-48 before back-to-back threes from Taylor Bol Bowen and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. erased the deficit.
The heavyweight matchup continued from there, as the two teams traded blows against increasing intensity on the defensive end from both. Like Saturday, this was about as entertaining as college basketball can get. Oats was not shy about going to his bench, as all three of the available true freshmen on the roster got prime time action and made solid contributions. Amari Allen continues to shine from that group, particularly using his length and high motor to disrupt on the defensive end.
Philon finally got rolling a little on offense, but the Tide unsurprisingly cooled off a bit from deep and the Boilermakers took advantage. An 11-3 run had Purdue up by eight with five minutes to play at 79-71, a tough hill to climb against this caliber of opponent, even for a team with Alabamas firepower. Labaron Philon seemingly tried to take the game over late just as he did at MSG, first feeding Bol Bowen for a dunk then earning one of his own on a breakaway after picking the pocket of Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer, and the Tide pulled within three at 80-77.
There was a long delay on the next trip for Purdue after guard CJ Cox laid the ball in right at the shot clock buzzer with 2:20 left to play, and the officiating crew struggled to get a good view of the replay. They finally got it right, calling it a shot clock violation on Purdue and Alabama was right back in the game. Philon was able to break down the defense and kicked it out to a wide open Houston Mallette on the wing and he came up empty from deep, but the Tide got a stop and Mallette hit one from the exact same spot on the next trip.
Purdue star guard Braden Smith got to the rim on the next trip and managed to muscle one past Bol Bowen for a two point lead. Philon was immediately fouled in the backcourt but missed the front end of the critical one-and-one. Smith then got fouled on the other end and made both for a four point lead, and that became the difference in the game.
This was an exciting, well played game that someone had to lose and Alabama was unfortunately that team. Like Saturdays game it had a March feel, and as you often see in March the veteran guard made the plays down the stretch to win. Philon played hard and had the athletic advantage in his matchup, but Smith taught him a bit of a lesson tonight. He led all scorers with 29 points on 50% three point shooting, and added seven boards with four assists while closing things out with the ball in his hands.
Alabama will next face 14th-ranked Illinois on Wednesday.
Roll Tide.