Alabama
11-3,2-0SEC
Florida
9-4,0-1SEC
Second Half Run Propels No. 15/20 Alabama to an 83-70 Victory at Florida
1/5/2022 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Five players scored double figures as the Crimson Tide improves to 2-0 in SEC play
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After trailing by three at halftime, the No. 15/20 Alabama men's basketball team opened the second half on a 22-4 run and ran away with an 83-70 victory at Florida Wednesday night.
Five Crimson Tide players reached double figures led by forward Juwan Gary and sophomore Jahvon Quinerly. Gary finished with a career high-tying 19 points to go along with a team-high eight boards, while Quinerly also had 19 points to go with a team-best five assists.
It marked Alabama's third win in its last four games at Florida, as the Tide won for the 30th straight time when scoring 80 points in a contest.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"This was a huge road win for us. Give a ton of credit to our guys for their effort in the second half. I thought we had to win the turnover battle. We turned them over 20 times, and we only turned the ball over 12 times ourselves, so I thought that was key in the game. Our rebounding, we ended up even, but getting 20 offensive boards, I thought our effort was great. We really needed our guys to come alive and they did. That was just about as good of a half defensively as we played, maybe all year, against a quality team. They're a good team that's going to win a lot of games. They're well coached, they play really hard. I thought they played harder than us in the first half. We chart blue-collar points, they were well ahead of us at the half. I thought our effort picked up in the second half. When our defensive effort picks up, offense usually comes around and that's what happened tonight. We have not shot it particularly great, really for a while, maybe since the Gonzaga game, but we've played hard enough to win two big SEC games here to start the year."
Team Stats
- Joining Gary and Quinerly in double figures was Jaden Shackelford (14 points), Keon Ellis (13 points) and Charles Bediako (11 points)
- UA forced a season-high 13 steals, led by Ellis who finished with a season-high four
- Bediako added two blocks and two steals to the night
- Florida entered the game ranked No. 29 in the nation in average points allowed per game (59.9) but Alabama scored the most points UF has given up this year
- Alabama scored 21 points off 20 Florida turnovers, while the Gators tallied just 10 points off 12 Tide turnovers
- Gary earned the Hard Hat Award
2-0 in SEC play?#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/X4zCAGNqLS
— Alabama Men's Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) January 6, 2022
First Half
- After an opening layup from Florida, Alabama posted seven unanswered points to take a 7-2 lead early in the game
- Florida would tie the game at 7-7, one of five ties and four lead changes in the half
- Ellis gave the Tide its largest lead of the half at six points, converting a four-point play to move UA head 21-15 with 10:52 on the clock
- The Gators responded with an 18-5 run that extended just shy of six minutes and turned the Tide's six-point lead into Florida's largest lead of the half at 33-26 at the 4:57 mark
- Gary ignited the Tide offense with a team-leading nine points as UA battled back to a one possession game at the half (39-36)
- Alabama made 11-of-35 from the floor while Florida shot 13-of-26
- The Tide led 9-4 in points off turnovers, but the Gators paced the half in points off the bench, 14-2, and second chance points 9-4
That's 15-1 run by the Tide
— Alabama Men's Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) January 6, 2022
Alabama 56, Florida 43 | 12:44 2nd H#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/gTNaxTjaO7
Second Half
- The Tide would emerge from the intermission on fire, going on a 22-4 run over the first 8:18 to take control of the game
- The defense was also clicking during the run as well, as it held Florida without a field goal until the 11:48 mark of the second stanza, going 0-of-9 with seven turnovers before hitting its first bucket of the half
- Florida managed to close the gap to five points (66-61) after outscoring the Tide 18-8 over the next 5:36 minutes of play
- A layup by Quinerly followed by a steal and reverse dunk from Ellis jump-started a 7-1 spurt to reestablish its double-digit lead at 73-62 with 4:32 to play
- Alabama closed the game on a 10-3 run to result in the final score
????#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/q4VB8OosMF
— Alabama Men's Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) January 6, 2022
Up Next
- Alabama continues its SEC road slate, traveling to face Missouri on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
– UA –
