No. 7 Alabama dropped its second game in a row, losing to No. 5 Florida 99-94 on Senior Night.
The Crimson Tide dropped to 23-7 overall and 12-5 in the SEC after losing their fourth game in the past six. Their hopes of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament are over, and now they have to hope they can hang on to one of the four double-byes in the SEC Tournament next week.
Here are a few takeaways from the game.
Senior Night Spoiled for Sears
Mark Sears put together another impressive performance in his last home game in a Crimson Tide uniform, but it wasn’t enough. Sears' game-high 30 points came in a nontraditional fashion for the senior. Florida’s defense made things difficult from the three-point line, and Sears was forced into taking tough twos. Sears was held to 2-for-10 shooting from behind the arc, but he was much more successful at the free-throw line, where he went 8-for-9.
Trouble at Free Throw Line
Clifford Omoruyi went a surprisingly perfect 5-for-5 from the line on Wednesday. He and Sears combined to hit 13 of their 14 attempts, but the rest of the team went 4-for-11. Alabama shot just 68% from the line, leaving free points on the table.
Dominated on Glass
Alabama doesn’t get outrebounded often, but on Wednesday they not only lost the rebound battle but were dominated on the glass. Florida outrebounded the Crimson Tide 50-35. The big difference maker was the 16 offensive rebounds that the Gators pulled down and converted to 19 second chance points.
Florida Controlled the Flow
Both teams like to play fast, but Alabama was unable to play consistently at the speed they wanted to. Florida was able to keep the Crimson Tide from running the floor because of how well they crashed the glass on the offensive side of the court. Despite Alabama keeping its turnovers in check to only six for the game, Florida was still able to produce 22 fastbreak points to Alabama’s 10.
Alabama will travel to Auburn to close the regular season on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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