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Alabama Played 3-on-5 for 10 Minutes and Nearly Came Back

Talk about heart and hustle.

Nihal Kolur

Alabama Played 3-on-5 for 10 Minutes and Nearly Came Back
Alabama Played 3-on-5 for 10 Minutes and Nearly Came Back /

In one of the crazier sequences in college basketball, Alabama nearly came back from an 11-point deficit with just over 10 minutes to play. What's so fascinating about that? Alabama was playing THREE-on-five against No. 14 Minnesota.

During the Barclays Center Classic game, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Minnesota’s Nate Mason started jawing at each other, resulting in a double technical. Mason was subsequently tossed, much to the dismay of head coach Richard Pitino, who received a technical foul as well.

A second brawl occurred shortly after involving Minnesota's Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer and Alabama's Riley Norris and John Petty, leading to the ejection of the entire Alabama bench. Check out some of the scenes below.

What happened next, though, was unparalleled.

With 12 minutes left, Alabama was forced to play with just five players against Minnesota. But just one minute later, point guard Dazon Ingram fouled out, ensuing in a four-on-five matchup for the remainder of the game. But the insanity didn't stop there. Shooting Guard John Petty landed awkwardly on a three-point shot, leaving head coach Avery Johnson with just THREE eligible players against Minnesota.

Despite being absurdly short-handed, the Crimson Tide outscored the Gophers 30-22 with a two-man disadvantage to cut the lead to just three points with just over a minute to go. But Alabama couldn't complete the historic comeback and came up just short, suffering an 89-84 loss. Sexton finished with 40 points to lead the charge in a game that will surely be a hot topic when the AP comes out with its latest college basketball rankings.

Talk about a crazy game.

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Nihal Kolur
NIHAL KOLUR

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