No. 6 Alabama Basketball Falls Hard on Road at Memphis, 92-78

The Crimson Tide turned the ball over 20 times, resulting in 29 points for the Tigers inside a hostile FedExForum.

Joey Blackwell | Dec 14, 2021

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In front of a hostile road environment inside FedExForum, No. 6 Alabama basketball was handed its second loss of the season, falling 92-78 at Memphis.

Twenty turnovers for the Crimson Tide resulted in 29 points for the Tigers. From the free-throw line, Memphis shot 19-for-24 while Alabama was limited to just 8-for-12 at the charity stripe. Those two stats were ultimately the difference in the game.

"We didn't come ready to play," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "That's on the coaching staff and the players both. Give a ton of credit to Memphis. [...] I tried to tell our guys we were gonna get Memphis' best shot and I think they made a statement looking to get this thing turned around against a top-10 team.

"They came out ready to go and they came ready to play. We didn't."

Memphis opened the first half scoring nine of the game's first 11 points to take a 9-2 lead over the course of the first three minutes. However, a 12-2 run by Alabama put the Crimson Tide up 18-13 at the 12:17 mark.

With 10 minutes left in the game's opening half, exactly half of Alabama's 20 points had come from dunks. However, while the Crimson Tide's performance in the paint was working rather well, its effort beyond the arc was not. At the end of the first half, Alabama had shot just 3 of 12 from three-point territory.

Memphis closed out the first half with an 8-0 run to jump ahead 37-32, and both teams headed to the locker room.

At the break, Darius Miles and Keon Ellis tied for the Alabama lead in points with six apiece. Jahvon Quinerly led the Crimson Tide in rebounds with five, while Jaden Shackelford was just behind him with four in the game's first 20 minutes.

While Crimson Tide freshman guard J.D. Davison didn't register a point in the first half, he did manage to record seven assists.

With 14:20 left in the first half, Memphis entered the bonus thanks to seven personal fouls called on Alabama. At that point in the game, the Crimson Tide had trailed by as much as 10 points.

Two free throws and a short jumper later, and Alabama trailed Memphis 53-42. Shots simply weren't falling for the Crimson Tide, and the Tigers were taking advantage. At the midway point of the second half, Alabama was shooting just 20 percent from beyond the arc.

The Tigers continued to storm over the Crimson Tide, composing a 12-2 run heading into the under-12 media timeout. A 61-44 lead proved to be insurmountable for Alabama.

With 3:37 to go, the Crimson Tide had chipped the Tigers' lead down to single digits thanks to a 9-1 run with two three-pointers from Ellis and Shackelford. The same nine-point margin returned at the 2:12 mark due to a three by Quinerly.

Yet when the final horn sounded, the final score was 92-78 in favor of Memphis.

"Out of the gate, our energy wasn't where it needed to be," Oats said. "I didn't think we were locked in. We had multiple guys not play their best basketball game and I think that's the best Memphis has played all year."

Points off turnovers was the key stat of the game in Alabama's demise. While the Crimson Tide only turned the ball over three more times than the Tigers — 20 compared to 17 — Memphis was able to capitalize more often, converting those turnovers into 29 points compared to Alabama's 18.

While Crimson Tide fans might point to bias in foul-calling as a key stat in the game, the foul distribution seemed fair. Alabama was called for a total of 20 fouls over the course of the game compared to Memphis' 12, resulting in 20 made free throws for the Tigers compared to eight for Alabama. That might sound lopsided, and it was. However, the majority of the Crimson Tide's fouls came as a result of sloppy play rather than bad calls being made by the officials.

Fouls were certainly another key factor in Alabama's loss, but the wound was self-inflicted by the Crimson Tide.

As far as stats leaders for Alabama, Ellis finished the game with a team-leading 19 points. Two other Crimson Tide players finished with double-digit points, with Quinerly recording 12 and Shackelford 10.

Shackelford also led the team in rebounds with eight, while Ellis and Quinerly each totaled six. Davison tied his career-high with 10 assists on the night.

With the loss, Alabama drops to 8-2 on the season. Up next for the Crimson Tide, Alabama will return home to face in-state foe Jacksonville State on Saturday (7:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

Memphis moves to 6-4 with its victory over the Crimson Tide. The win on Tuesday night snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tigers.

"We got what we deserved," Oats said.

Published Dec 14, 2021

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.