Alabama Ends Season in the NIT to Creighton, 72-54

The Alabama men’s basketball team (18-15, 8-10 Southeastern Conference) dropped its opening game of the 2016 National Invitation Tournament at Creighton (19-14, 9-9 Big East) by a final score of 72-54 Tuesday night. The loss to the Blue Jays brings head coach Avery Johnson’s first season to a close.

Both teams struggled to consistently knock down shots in the opening 20 minutes while also being plagued by turnovers. Nearly three minutes elapsed before Creighton made its first field goal as Alabama claimed an early 7-3 lead. However, the Tide would make just three of its last 23 shot attempts from the floor, going on scoring droughts of 4:15 and 3:29 late in the half. The Blue Jays outscored Alabama 18-5 from the 10:00 mark and led 30-19 at the break despite committing nine turnovers. The 19 points was the lowest first-half point total on the season for the Tide.

Alabama made its first two shots in the second half, but would go over six minutes without scoring a single point and seven minutes without a made field goal after that as Creighton extended its advantage to 18 points. The Tide made one final push, led by sophomore Justin Coleman, but never managed to trim the deficit to single digits.

For the game, Alabama was 17-for-60 from the field and was outrebounded 45-32. Coleman led the offense with 18 points and four of the Tide’s eight made three-pointers, while senior Retin Obasohan chipped in 13 in the final game of his career.

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