Alabama
14-9, 7-4SEC
South Carolina
19-5, 9-2SEC
Alabama Men’s Basketball Upsets No. 19 South Carolina, 90-86, in 4OT Thriller
2/7/2017 10:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tide wins first true road game over a top-25 team since 2004
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Sophomore Avery Johnson Jr. registered a career-high 23 points to lead the Alabama men's basketball team to an upset 90-86 victory over No. 19 South Carolina on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena. The win gives the Crimson Tide its first victory over a top-25 team in a true road contest since taking a 77-73 win at then-No. 4 Mississippi State on Feb. 21, 2004.
In addition, Tuesday night's thriller was just the second quadruple overtime contest that Alabama has played in program history. The only other such game came on Feb. 12, 1972, when the Tide defeated LSU, 103-99.
"You have to take your hats off to both teams," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "We fought tonight and showed a lot of character. We are coming off a deflating loss at home and I challenged these guys. We changed the way we prepare for games. We were able to jump on them at the start of the game and that gave us momentum throughout the game. Obviously they made a run to get it to overtime, but there was no quit in our team tonight.
"This was an SEC classic game - a game we will probably be watching 10 years from now. This was an outstanding game. I'm glad we were able to overcome a lot of adversity and bounce back to get the win. I'm proud of our guys; I can't say that enough. They never quit on us as a staff and never quit on each other."
Alabama had three players finish in double figures led by Johnson's career-high scoring output. Junior guard Ar'Mond Davis came off the bench to score a career-best 19 points, while junior guard/forward Riley Norris collected his third career double-double and his first this season with 11 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.
The Tide got off to a strong start to begin the first half, as it held a 10-2 lead going into the first media timeout. Alabama went on to stretch the lead to 17-5 with 11:25 on the clock, before going on to lead by as many as 17 points, 28-11, with 3:42 left in the half. Alabama finished the half strong and took 32-16 lead as the teams headed into halftime.
Alabama (14-9, 7-4 SEC) shot 41 percent from the field in the first half, while limiting South Carolina to just 10 percent. Defense was the narrative for the Tide in the opening stanza, as it held the Gamecocks to 3-of-30 from the field, including a 0-17 drought over the final 10 minutes of the first half.
South Carolina (19-5, 9-2) began the second half by cutting the Alabama lead to single digits, 49-40, with 8:53 left in regulation. With the Tide holding a 54-42 lead with 4:39 left to play, the Gamecocks scored 11 of the game's next 12 points to cut the deficit to 55-52 with 47 seconds left. Trailing 57-55 after a made free throw from Davis, South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell connected on a driving layup with three seconds remaining. Johnson got the last look in regulation from the top of the key, but the shot fell just short as both teams went into overtime tied at 57-57.
The first overtime was a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded baskets. The score was tied at 63-63 with 16 seconds left, Alabama called a timeout to set up a potential game-winning shot. Davis got a chance at the last shot from the short corner, but it fell short resulting in a second overtime.
South Carolina got off to a fast start in the second overtime, as it scored the first seven points to take a 70-63 lead with 2:35 on the clock. However, the Tide answered with eight straight, capped by a steal and layup from Johnson to take a one-point lead at 71-70 with 42 second remaining. Thornwell drove the lane for a bucket to give South Carolina a 72-71 lead, before Johnson drilled another three-pointer in the corner to give the Tide a 74-72 lead with 19 seconds left to play. Thornwell arose to occasion again, as he took the ball to the rack to tie the score at 74-74 with four seconds on the clock.
The Tide began the third overtime by scoring the first first four points to take a 78-74 advantage, including a dunk from senior Jimmie Taylor and a jumper from senior Corban Collins. Collins hit a free-throw to give the Tide a five-point lead at 79-74, before South Carolina converted a three-point play to cut the Alabama lead to 79-77. Davis stroked another shot from beyond the arc to extend the lead to 82-77, but the Gamecocks responded with a three-pointer and a pair of made free-throws to knot the score at 82-82 with 23 seconds left to play. Alabama had the ball with the clock winding down, but Collins was unable to convert resulting in a fourth overtime.
The fourth and final overtime began when South Carolina and Alabama swapped baskets through the first two minutes. Norris knocked down four consecutive free-throws, while the Tide was able to get defensive stops and earn the hard-fought victory.
Thornwell had a huge game, finishing the night with 44 points and 21 rebounds in 56 minutes of action. Thornwell went just 9-of-25 from the field but connected on an SEC single-game record 25-of-33 free throws. He was joined in double figures by PJ Dozier, who ended the night with 21 points.
The Tide bench outscored the Gamecock bench by a 56-5 margin in the 60 minute contest. Alabama won the batlle of the boards for the 10th time in 11 SEC games, outrebounding South Carolina by a 61-52 margin. Alabama shot 42 percent from the field on the night, while shooting 30 percent from beyond the arc.
The Tide will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11, when it hosts 15th-ranked Kentucky at Coleman Coliseum in a game that is set to broadcast on CBS at noon CT.
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