BamaCentral Courtside: Alabama Basketball 87, No. 4 Baylor 78

BamaCentral's own Katie Windham and Joey Blackwell break down the Crimson Tide's 87-78 upset victory over the Bears.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After struggling throughout the month of January, Alabama basketball picked up a big win on Saturday afternoon, upsetting No. 4 Baylor by a score of 87-78.

While the Crimson Tide had plenty of difficulties as recently as Tuesday night when it lost on the road to a rough Georgia Bulldogs squad, all effort issues were thrown out the window on Saturday. Alabama shot an impressive 59 percent from the floor and hit a solid 22 of its 26 free throws.

Baylor turned the ball over 16 times, and Alabama was able to capitalize with 24 points off of those turnovers. Additionally, the Crimson Tide recorded 10 steals over the course of the game.

Sophomore forward Juwan Gary returned to the court for Alabama for the first time since going down on Jan. 19 against LSU with a facial contusion. On the night, Gary recorded 15 points and three rebounds as well as a block. Even more than that, though, Gary provided a solid amount of energy and effort throughout the course of the game that impacted his teammates' performances.

With the win over Baylor alongside victories over Gonzaga and Houston, Alabama has now downed three of last year's Final Four. However, the road doesn't get any easier for the Crimson Tide. Up next, Alabama travels to face No. 1 Auburn on Tuesday before turning around and hosting No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday.

Check out the video above where BamaCentral's own Katie Windham and Joey Blackwell break down the Crimson Tide's 87-78 upset victory over the Bears.

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Joey Blackwell
JOEY BLACKWELL

Joey Blackwell is an award-winning journalist and assistant editor for BamaCentral and has covered the Crimson Tide since 2018. He primarily covers Alabama football, men's basketball and baseball, but also covers a wide variety of other sports. Joey earned his bachelor's degree in History from Birmingham-Southern College in 2014 before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2020 with a degree in News Media. He has also been featured in a variety of college football magazines, including Lindy's Sports and BamaTime.