No. 10 Alabama Basketball Comes Up Short At No. 18 Missouri, 68-65

The Crimson Tide suffered its first conference loss on Saturday against the Tigers in heart-breaking fashion

Despite a 21-4 run over the final six minutes of the second half, No. 10 Alabama basketball fell short of erasing a 22-point deficit at No. 18 Missouri, falling 68-65, inside Mizzou Arena on Saturday afternoon

"First SEC loss," Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. "Obviously, guys are disappointed, I’m disappointed. We gave ourselves a chance there at the end to win it. I didn’t think we played like we needed to in the first half. Somehow, we’ve gotta get these guys ready to go a little bit better, better starts to these Saturday morning games. But I give our guys a ton of credit. 

"We were down 22 with 13 minutes to go in the game and had multiple opportunities to take the lead in the last minute, minute and a half in the game. So, I couldn’t have asked for much better effort in the last 13 minutes. I think if we can get that type of effort for 40 minutes, we win the game.”

It wasn't a pretty first half of action for the visitors from Tuscaloosa. 

Alabama started with a 4-0 lead and then the Tigers went on a 23-9 run to take a double-digit advantage, 23-13. That lead for the Crimson Tide only lasted 1:18 of game time. 

Missouri used a dominating performance in the paint across the first 20 minutes to hold a 16-point lead going into the locker room, 44-28. 

The Crimson Tide was outscored 32-10 in the painted area during that stretch. It also only made 10 of its 32 shot attempts and committed eight turnovers, which is not a recipe for success. 

Down 20 with 6:13 remaining, the Alabama offense flipped a switch and used a 21-2 run to cut the deficit to only one point, 66-65, with 1:11 remaining. 

Alabama's defense figured it out, too, and held the Tigers scoreless from the field, missing its last seven field goal attempts. Overall, Missouri missed 11 of its final 12 shots. 

In the final minute, the Crimson Tide had two chances to take the lead, both on layups from senior wing Herb Jones. 

The first one rimmed out barely, then, after guard Mark Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one, Alabama got the ball back and went back to Jones underneath the basket. 

Mitchell Smith with the big time block to seal the W for @MizzouHoops 🐯 pic.twitter.com/uAX9tSirdn

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 6, 2021

Tigers forward Mitchell Smith swatted the shot away, forcing the Crimson Tide to foul Xavier Pinson on the rebound, who nailed two free throws to seal the three-point victory for Missouri. 

"I thought the kid landed on Herb's back," Oats said of the no-call on Jones' final layup attempt. "I saw it live I thought it was a foul live. I wish we hadn't put ourselves in a spot where it came down to a whistle or not getting a whistle in the last five seconds.

"It was a tough call to lose the game on. But I haven't seen it, I don't want to say for sure. Refs in the SEC are pretty good, nobody's perfect. If he missed it he missed it. We can't put ourselves in that spot."

Alabama (15-5, 10-1 SEC) guard Jaden Shackelford scored a team-high 15 points, while guards Keon Ellis, Jahvon Quinerly, and John Petty Jr. joined him in double-figures, with 35 points combined.

Despite only hitting 3-of-20 from three-point range, Missouri shot a blistering 59.5 percent from everywhere else on the court. The Tigers finished winning the battle in the paint by a margin of 24. 

Missouri (13-3, 6-3 SEC) had three players in double figures, led by guard Dru Smith who poured in 16 points, while guard Mark Smith and forward Kobe Brown netted 25 put together.  

The loss snaps Alabama's 10-game winning streak in SEC play. It was also the second straight Saturday that the Crimson Tide lost a game that started before noon. 

On the season, Alabama is 1-3 in games that are in the morning/early afternoon TV window.

"We're not ready to play in the first half," Oats added. "It cost us twice, really three times with Western Kentucky. Told the guys that ESPN wants us on, best team in the SEC, there's a reason we're playing at 11. We just weren't ready to go. If I had the answer I'd fix it."

Oats and company will look to rebound against South Carolina on Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m (CT) inside Colonial Life Arena, which will air on SEC Network. 

"We have to play better," Oats said. "That's the bottom line. They're a really good team, Coach [Cuonzo] Martin had those guys ready to go out of the gate. We have to do a better job getting our guys ready to go out of the gate. We've got to play a lot better on Tuesday."