Alabama Snubs Houston’s Second-Chances, Wins 83-82
The No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the No. 14 Houston Cougars 83-82 on the back 17 points and eight assists from Jahvon Quinerly.
Each team had unique struggles throughout the night: Houston battled personal fouls while Alabama struggled to get any production on the boards.
"It was a hard-fought win, a big one for the program," head caoch Nate Oats said.
The foul trouble escalated for Houston escalated in the seconds after the buzzer hit zeros as Marcus Sasser rushed the officials.
Oats said if he was in their shoes he'd want a review for goaltending as well, mentioning a past scenario with John Petty.
Houston finished the game with 28 fouls as a team, four from four different players. Sasser had just one foul and led his team with 25 points.
Despite Houston having more foul trouble, the team that lost players to fouls was Alabama, which lost Charles Bediako and Noah Gurley late in the second half.
Oats was charged with a technical after Davison was called for an over-the-back foul just after a Houston play of a similar nature was let go.
"If we're not gonna call this one... I guess I stayed on him too long," Oats said.
Alabama's struggles on the board kept the Cougars in the game as Houston 23 points off 21 rebounds.
"We're all displeased with it, we got our butts kicked on the glass," Oats said.
Oats mentioned that his bigs didn't produce on the boards, but oftentimes it had more to do with the nature of the play breakdown where guards ended up on bigs.
Alabama's top rebounders were guards: Davison led with nine while Jaden Shakelford had eight.
Alabama did correct one struggle in the second half that boosted its opportunities, improving nine first-half turnovers to three in the second half. As a result, the Cougars only had three points off turnovers in the second half as opposed to 13 in the first half.
Alabama took fewer tries from three than Houston but was more efficient from behind the arc. The Crimson Tide his 39% from three and was led in points by 19 from Juwan Gary followed by 18 from Shackelford.
Alabama will travel north to take on the Memphis Tigers next Tuesday at 8 p.m. CST on ESPN from Memphis, Tennessee.