Alabama Basketball Falls to Oregon in Players Era Festival Championship

The Crimson Tide will earn a $1.25 million runner-up prize in the inaugural Las Vegas NIL event.

Alabama guard Labaron Philon (0) in the Players Era Festival vs. Oregon / Obtained from Alabama Basketball's X/Twitter

No. 9 Alabama men's basketball fell to Oregon with an 83-81 loss to Oregon in the inaugural Players Era Festival Championship on Saturday night.

This Las Vegas-based NIL event is the first of its kind as the winning team, that being Oregon, will receive $1.5 million in prize money. Alabama will take home $1.25 million.

Alabama reached the first place game after defeating No. 6 Houston in a 85-80 overtime thriller and coming out victorious in a close 95-90 battle against Rutgers. Oregon, on the other hand, defeated No. 20 Texas A&M and San Diego State each by 10 points to help the Ducks reach the final match.

But like Alabama's recent games and unlike Oregon's Saturday night's must-see event went down to the wire.

The Crimson Tide shot an efficient 14-of-30 from the field in the first half, including a 6-of-18 clip from behind the arc. Guards Labaron Philon and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. were the leading scorers, putting up 11 and 10 respectively with just one shot missed between the two of them.

However, Wrightsell went down early in the second half with a non-contact lower leg injury and was unable to walk off the court even with the assistance of trainers. He did not return to the game.

Oregon was able to close the first half tied at 39 with Alabama heavily due to its nine points off turnovers. The Crimson Tide had nine turnovers in the opening period, which has been a struggle for Alabama recently.

The early second-half injury to Wrightsell seemed to put a damper on the Crimson Tide as Oregon preserved multiple leads of around eight points. When one impact player goes down another must step up and forward Jarin Stevenson was pivotal in keeping Alabama in it as he hit all three of his shots from behind the arc by the midway point of the second half. Guard Aden Holloway also helped lift the Tide's spirits in that short time frame with a make from deep and a bucket inside.

And just like that, what was once a 60-52 deficit turned into a 67-62 lead for Alabama. From there on, it was a back-and-forth battle between two programs desperate to be the first-ever winner of the Players Era Festival.

Preseason All-American point guard Mark Sears hit a big-time and-one to break a tie with under five minutes remaining––which was thought to provide a massive momentum boost––but the Ducks just wouldn't go away. This was somewhat due to a couple of Alabama turnovers, which had slowed down in the second half compared to the first, but still proved to be a factor.

Speaking of turnovers, Alabama forward Grant Nelson gave one away tied at 75 with 1:55 left in regulation, but after a goaltending review, it was confirmed that Stevenson did not record a chase-down block in time that the broadcast was "shocked" it wasn't overturned.

Now up 77-75, Oregon got the ball back and Ducks' Kee Barthelemy, who finished with a team-high 22 points put Oregon up by four with under a minute remaining and then six with a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left.

However, it was Alabama's turn to stay in the game as a Holloway three plus a steal off an inbound put Sears at the line. Sears made one and missed the second but Alabama blue-collar points magnet Mouhamed Dioubate grabbed the rebound off the missed free throw, was fouled and then proceeded to make his shots at the charity stripe and tie the game.

Oregon's Nate Bittle had a put-back dunk with under five seconds remaining to regain the lead and go up by two. Sears drove towards inside and found Nelson who laid it up and in at the buzzer but he released it too late, forcing a no-basket to end the game.

Alabama slides down to a 6-2 record while Oregon boosts its undefeated start to 8-0.