Alabama
6-2
UCF
5-3
Alabama Men’s Basketball Falls to UCF, 65-62, for First Home Loss of the Year
12/3/2017 4:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Senior Donta Hall scores a career-high 20 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 24-ranked Alabama men's basketball team came up short for the first time at home this season, falling to UCF, 65-62, Sunday afternoon. Junior Donta Hall turned in a perfect performance from the field, shooting 9-of-9 from the floor to finish with a career-high 20 points.
"Today, you know, we had tough second half," head coach Avery Johnson said. "We weren't very good offensively in the second half. We had an 11-point lead there in the first half and didn't get enough separation. We had some careless turnovers, missed some of our shots that we normally make and that we're capable of making. We think we're a team that's capable of having a team with four guys in double-figures and not just two. This was a learning lesson for our team that we have to be ready to play for 40 minutes. We didn't quite have that effort today, and I have to do a better job of making sure they're ready to play in situations like this one. Especially when we're playing against a really good team."
UCF edged Alabama on both sides of the floor, shooting 48.1 percent from the field compared to the Tide's 43.1 percent, and outrebounded UA 37-28.
In addition to Hall, freshman John Petty reached double digits for the fifth time this season, scoring 12 points in the game.
Alabama jumped out of the gates hot, with a 10-0 run over 3:23 to go along with six UCF turnovers to lead 12-4 at the 14:17 mark. The Crimson Tide continued to knock down baskets, extending its lead by double digits, 25-14, with 7:54 left in the first half. However, the Knights quickly answered with a 7-0 run of their own in 58 seconds to shrink the deficit to 27-24 with 4:54 left in the half. To close out the half, Alabama outscored UCF 9-6 to head into the break up by six points, 36-30.
In the first half, the Crimson Tide shot 48 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Knights 20-16.
UCF started the second half on the attack, knotting the score at 38-38, 1:25 into the stanza and continued its momentum by grabbing its second lead of the afternoon, 51-46 thanks to a 9-2 run at the 12:18 minute mark. Alabama then chopped down the deficit to 55-52 using a 6-0 run with 6:15 left to play and turned up the heat when Petty hit a three-point to cut the deficit to 58-57 with 4:45 left to play.
Freshman Collin Sexton hit two free throws to tie the game at 62-62 with 54 seconds remaining. However, the Knights capitalized on two Alabama miscues, adding three more points to outlast the Crimson Tide.
Alabama will return to action on Wednesday night to host Rhode Island at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on SEC Network +.
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