PHI SLAMMA BAMA
No. 8 Crimson Tide rally to take down No. 1 Houston
HOUSTON — Alabama could have called it a day when it was trailing by double-figures early in the second half.
The No. 8 Crimson Tide didn’t, and earned another marquee win this season.
Alabama rallied from a 15point second half deficit to stun No. 1 Houston 71-65 on Saturday, becoming just the second men’s team to beat two top-ranked teams in the same season.
Noah Clowney had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Bradley added 12 points and Mark Sears scored 11 points, including nine in the second half, for the Crimson Tide (8-1). Alabama shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and 41 percent for the game. The Tide went 20-for-32 on free throws, including 15for-21 in the second half.
“This is one of those character wins that shows that our guys are going to keep fighting no matter what the score is,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We could have easily given up down 15. The start of the second half wasn’t great. We made some changes with the bench guys. Hung in there, kept clawing away at the lead, finally able to take the lead and then we pulled away from them.”
Alabama beat North Carolina 103-101 in four overtimes on Nov. 27 and joined the 1990 Oklahoma team as clubs that took down two No. 1s in a season.
“Huge program win,” Oats said. “Not sure how many teams get the chance to play two No. 1 teams in nonconference, let alone beat them, but I think that shows where we’ve gotten this program to that we can play with anyone in the country at this point.”
Jamal Shead had 19 points and six rebounds, and Tramon Mark scored 10 points before fouling out with 8:10 remaining for Houston (9-1).
“That’s the No. 8 team in the nation,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “No shame losing to a really, really good Alabama team. Disappointing obviously. We haven’t lost a lot in this building.”
The Cougars shot 39 percent from the field, including going 1-for-8 to end the game. Houston was 3-for-13 on 3-pointers and 12-for-22 from the free-throw line.
“We just couldn’t guard,” Shead said. “We didn’t stand in front of the ball for like four or five straight possessions and that’s how they got back into it. And we just weren’t tough enough to finish it out.”
The score was tied at 63 following a Marcus Sasser free throw with two minutes left. Then Clowney put the Tide up by two with a layup with 1:12 remaining, Shead missed a jumper with 48 seconds left and Brandon Miller made two free throws five seconds later to push the lead to four.
After Reggie Chaney missed two free throws, Miller made two more free throws to give Alabama a 69-63 lead with 27 seconds remaining.