Sportsmanship Ultimately Prevails in Marred Finish to Alabama Basketball vs Houston
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The wild finish to No. 9 Alabama basketball's thrilling 83-82 Saturday night win over No. 14 Houston displayed several sights that haven't been seen inside Coleman Coliseum in quite some time.
In the game's final four seconds, the entire 20 minutes of action was resolved. With Houston having possession on its offensive end of the court, Cougars guard Kyler Edwards heaved the ball out of desperation in an attempt to score three points and win the game. The ball bounced upwards off of the rim, rebounded by Houston forward Fabian White Jr.. White attempted a final layup, but the ball bounced off the iron.
A final putback attempt by White bounced the ball of the rim one final time before Alabama freshman guard J.D. Davison — who had registered a dunk on the previous Crimson Tide possession to give Alabama the lead — swatted the basketball towards the corner of the court as time expired.
The result gave Alabama the win, but the action of the night was far from over. The result of Davison's swat sent the Houston bench into a frenzy, with the Cougars believing that Davison has committed goaltending. Since the officials had not initially called goaltending, a review could not be made of the call. However, that did not stop Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson and multiple Cougars players from following the officials all the way to the opposite corner of the hardwood, pleading their case with the referees as they left the arena.
“We played good enough to win,” Sampson said. “The whistle blows, we walk out of here with a great win. Let’s not sit here and overanalyze this. Both teams played their hearts out. Our kids deserved to win the game.
“It was goaltending. He knocks the ball off the rim and there’s no call. That’s just a tough way to go down.”
With the officials' police officers having to thwart Sampson and players from following the officials to their locker room, the crowd inside Coleman grew even louder. A bewildered Alabama coach Nate Oats simply stood at center court, arm outstretched to shake the hand of Sampson, who was nowhere to be found.
As the Houston team finally left the court, a video shot by a fan revealed players and assistant coaches kicking and breaking a couple of chairs inside the arena, including assistant coach Kellen Sampson — Kelvin Sampson's son. Cougars senior forward Reggie Chaney was also shown tipping over a trash can.
Frustrated and defeated, the Cougars finally all left the court despite their disappointment with the game's result. Even Oats admitted that he would have also protested the final call of the game.
“If I was in their shoes, I would be looking for a goaltending, too,” Oats said.
Despite the chaos following the game, though, cooler heads and sportsmanship ultimately prevailed.
Soon after the video of the trash can being dumped was published on Twitter, another video from the same fan was published, revealing that Houston sophomore guard Jamal Shead had stayed behind to clean up the trash that his teammate had tipped over. The video started an outpouring of praise from both Crimson Tide and Cougars fans, and rightfully so. Despite being just a sophomore, Shead showed a high level of maturity and sportsmanship.
On Sunday afternoon, Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne revealed that Kelvin Sampson had called both him and Oats to apologize.
"Just received a call from @CoachSampsonUH, someone I’ve known since I was in high school," Byrne's tweet reads. "He sincerely apologized for how things ended after last night’s game in Coleman. He also called @nate_oats. Thanks Coach Sampson for reaching out."
The same evening, assistant coach Kellen Sampson also tweeted out an apology for his involvement in the postgame outburst.
“At the conclusion of yesterday’s game, I allowed my emotions to bubble over,” Sampson Tweeted. “I sincerely apologize to @AlabamaMBB and their fan base for my actions. I understand my role as a coach and my reaction was not indicative of a leader of men. I will be better moving forward.”
While the game's final seconds provided quite a bit of entertainment for the Crimson Tide fans inside Coleman Coliseum, the next couple of minutes following the final buzzer provided even more. However, sportsmanship ultimately prevailed. Shead especially should be praised for his efforts off the court in cleaning up the messes left behind by his frustrated teammates.
Alabama basketball will head to Memphis on Tuesday night to take on the Tigers inside FedExForum (8 p.m. CT, ESPN).
