Alabama
2-3,0-0SEC
North Carolina
5-0,1-0ACC
No. 6 North Carolina Uses Rebounding, Post Play to Overtake Alabama, 76-67, in Opening Round of Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament
11/27/2019 4:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
John Petty Jr. scored a season-high 23 points, while Kira Lewis Jr. added 20 in losing effort
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – The Alabama men's basketball team fell to No. 6 North Carolina, 76-67, on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the 2019 Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Crimson Tide (2-3) battled hard throughout the first half and trailed by six at the half. However, with Alabama trailing by three early in the second half, North Carolina went on a 14-2 run that lasted just over six minutes and resulted in a 51-36 lead with less than 14 minutes remaining.
The Tide was able to whittle the score to single digits on several occasions, but the Tar Heels, which leads the nation in rebounding margin, owned a huge 60-31 advantage on the boards to keep UA from making a run to get back in the game.
Junior John Petty Jr. led the team in scoring, finishing with 23 points on the strength of 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. also added 20 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in the loss. It was his third 20-point game of the season.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
- "We said our transition defense, turnovers on our offense and our rebounding on the defensive end was going to be the three big keys to the game. I thought the turnovers were much better, we cut them from 22 in each of the last two games to 14 tonight. I thought our transition wasn't too bad. The defensive rebounding just destroyed us. They got half their misses. We had 23 defensive boards, they had 23 offensive boards. If you're rebounding half your misses it's hard to get stops on the defensive end, so we have to do a better job. We really only have one floor man with size and then we mix in Alex Reese, Herb Jones, John Petty and Jaylen Forbes in the post. We play small. I thought Alex really did do a good job on the glass, but he's not really built right now to be playing 40 minutes. So, when you go small, I thought they really beat us up, but Reese did do a really good job of rebounding the ball."
Team Stats
- The Crimson Tide had two 20-plus scorers in a game for the first time since it occurred on March 15, 2018 vs. Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (Colin Sexton had 25 and Petty added 20)
- In addition to its 60 rebounds, the Tar Heels also pulled down 23 offensive boards compared to eight for UA which resulted in a 23-7 edge for UNC in second chance points
- Alabama had a season-low 14 turnovers while forcing North Carolina into 20 miscues – the first time this season that UA had fewer turnovers than its opponent
- As a result, the Tide outscored the Tar Heels 17-12 in points off turnovers
- Alabama grabbed 31 rebounds throughout the game, marking the first time of the season the team did not earn at least 40 boards in a contest
- UA entered the game with a +10.5 edge over the opposition in rebound margin which ranked among the top 10-percent in the nation, however, UNC came into this afternoon's contest leading the country in the category at +19.5
First Half
- North Carolina jumped out to 7-2 lead by the game's first media timeout
- Alabama responded with a 13-8 run to tie the game at 15-15 with 10:08 remaining in the half
- The Tar Heels used a 15-7 run to grab a 30-22 lead with 4:51 to play in the first
- A Petty three-pointer with 4:29 to go in the first half capped an 8-0 spurt by the Tide to even the game at 30-30
- North Carolina outscored Alabama 7-1 over the last four minutes of the half to take a 37-31 lead into intermission
- Petty led all players with 15 of his game-high 23 points coming in the first half
Second Half
- A 14-2 run by the Tar Heels gave North Carolina a 51-36 lead with 13:52 remaining – the largest lead of the night
- Alabama responded and trimmed the lead to nine points, 63-54, with just under seven minutes left to play
- The Crimson Tide was not able to get any closer than seven points the rest of the way, thanks in large part to the Tar Heels 45 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range over the final 20 minutes of action
Alabama will move to the consolation bracket where it will take on Iowa State, which fell to Michigan in the first game of the day. The Tide and Cyclones will play on Thursday at 5:30 pm CT (6:30 p.m. ET) and will be available on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
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