Rylan Griffen’s Scoring Tear Puts Away Missouri for Alabama's Sixth Straight Win

Rylan Griffen’s Scoring Tear Puts Away Missouri for Alabama's Sixth Straight Win

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The temperature may have been freezing outside, but Rylan Griffen was just heating up inside Coleman Coliseum.

Griffen finished with 21 points to lead all scorers and Alabama to a 93-75 win over Missouri on Tuesday night. The sophomore guard went on a scoring tear with 16 points over the final 10 minutes to put the ferocious Tigers away.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats came up to him on the bench and told him he needed to get things going in order for Alabama to win the game. 

"He was talking mainly on the defensive end, so I got it going there, and it opened up my offense," Griffen said after the game. 

His first of four second-half 3-pointers put the Tide up 62-55 with 7:46 to go, and it proved to be the spark Alabama needed to finally pull away from Missouri. From that point on, the Tigers never got within five points of the Crimson Tide. 

"That shooting barrage is probably the best shooting barrage I've seen out of anybody on our team this year," Oats said. "As good as I've seen in a while around here."

Overall, Griffen finished 7 for 9 from the floor, 5-of-7 from 3 and also had five rebounds and three assists. Five Crimson Tide players finished in double figures, including Aaron Estrada who also had 21.

Alabama built up an 11-point lead midway through the first half, but sloppy final few minutes dwindled the lead down to just 36-34 at halftime. The second half was a testy back-and-forth affair with three technical fouls issued between the two teams before Griffen’s scoring outburst to build up the Alabama lead.

Griffen needed to step up as Alabama’s leading scorer on the season, Mark Sears, seemed to really be bothered by his ankle that was heavily taped up. Sears had his lowest scoring output of the season with nine points.

"Hopefully Mark can get his ankle right because he is the leading scorer in the league, and we'd love to have him at Tennessee," Oats said. "We're going to need everything we can get to win at that place."

The Alabama defense was able to limit Missouri’s leading scorer Sean East II to just six points.

Between the introduction of Kalen DeBoer, a halftime performance from Red Panda and the product on the floor from the Crimson Tide, the student-heavy crowd was fired up all night.

Alabama stays undefeated in SEC play and improves to 12-5 (4-0 SEC), winning its sixth game in a row. Next up for the Crimson Tide is a big matchup at No. 6 Tennessee. 

How it happened...

Second Half

• 1:14- Alabama 88, Missouri 73

• 3:18- Alabama 80, Missouri 67

• 3:25- Rylan. Griffen. He nails his fourth 3-pointer of the second half to put Alabama up 80-67

• 5:22- Double technical foul issued on Alabama's Latrell Wrightsell and Missouri's Noah Carter. Alabama leads 72-63

• 6:19- Griffen is on fire. He's responsible for Alabama's last 11 points whether directly or indirectly– eight points on his own, and then he had the assist on Wrightsell's 3. Griffen stepping up big with Sears' ankle bothering him. Alabama leads 68-58, timeout Missouri

• 7:44- Griffen hits a big 3-pointer to put Alabama up 62-55 out of the timeout

• 7:58- Alabama 59, Missouri 55
• This continues to be a really physical game. It will be Alabama's ball out of the media timeout with 15 seconds on the shot clock. 

• 9:50- Two free throws from Sears bring Alabama out of its scoring drought, 57-51 Alabama

• 10:03- Alabama is currently in a 2:19 scoring drought as Mizzou cuts it to 55-51

• 11:37- Alabama 55, Missouri 49
• Once again, tensions were flaring heading into the timeout. Sears was fouled by Mizzou's Bates, and Bates held on a little long. More words were said between the two teams. 
• This game is getting testy, folks. The referees had to keep the teams on their side of the floor heading into the timeout. 

• After his technical, Nelson finishes an alley-oop and finds Sears for a 3-pointer. Alabama pushes the lead back to 53-47. Dennis Gates calls a timeout as the Coleman crowd was on its feet. 

• 13:50- Grant Nelson receives a technical foul. It must've been something he said to a Missouri player as he was bringing the ball up the court. Missouri hits both free throws and cuts into the score. Alabama 48, Missouri 47

• 15:47- Alabama 46, Missouri 44
• The first four of the second half was similar to the first– a pretty frenetic pace with both teams making a lot of shots. 

• 16:56- Estrada is having his way in the second half. He just hit a 3-pointer and has 8 points in the opening minutes of the second half. However, Alabama is struggling to get stops on the defensive end. Alabama leads 46-41

• Oats just yelled Grant Nelson's name a few times and then yelled, "You have to play harder!"

• 19:24- Missouri's 7-5 forward Connor Vanover gets his first points of the game on a dunk, 38-36 

• Same starting five for Alabama to being the second half. Sears promptly drives to the basket and lays it in to push the Alabama lead to 38-34

Halftime: Alabama 36, Missouri 34

• Nick Pringle led all scorers with 10 points. 

• After hitting the early 3-pointer, Grant Nelson only attempted one more shot for Alabama in the first half. 

• Alabama didn't make a field goal over the last 4:15 of the first half to let Missouri back into the game. 

• The big day of guests at Coleman continues as Red Panda performs at halftime. 

Red Panda. pic.twitter.com/5TSWLCTjIr

— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) January 17, 2024

First Half

• HALF: Alabama 36, Missouri 34
• The Tigers closed the half on a 12-3 run, cutting Alabama's lead which was once as big as 11.

• 2:28 - A quick 5-0 Missouri run has cut the lead to 6.

• 4:09 - Missouri takes a timeout after a flashy Estrada move in the lane gets the Alabama crowd on its feet. The Crimson Tide leads by 11.

• 4:45 - Nick Pringle has scored four in a row, and Alabama leads 31-22.

• 6:22- Griffen answers Mizzou's 3 with one of his own to put Alabama back up 27-18

• New football coach Kalen DeBoer was introduced to the Coleman Coliseum crowd during the media timeout.

• 7:34- Alabama 24, Missouri 15

• 9:28- Estrada is fighting on the offensive boards. His second of the game and a putback puts Alabama up 20-15. 
• Random observation: Missouri is one of the very few teams i've seen since the pandemic where the entire coaching staff is still wearing suits to the game. 

• 11:43- Alabama 16, Missouri 13
• Alabama is starting to settle in on defense. The Crimson Tide is also off to a hot start from beyond the arc, making four early 3-pointers.

• Dioubate is a rebounding machine. He was held and fouled, and he still came down with the rebound. That's why his minutes have increased. 

• 15:22- Walters misses a 3-pointer, but Estrada fights for the offensive rebound and finds Walters open again. He doesn't miss this time, and Alabama takes the 11-10 lead

• Sam Walters, Latrell Wrightsell and Mo Dioubate  check in for Alabama out of the timeout.

• 15:57- Missouri 10, Alabama 8
• Tigers have the lead at the first media timeout. Frantic first four minutes. Missouri starts 5-of-6 from the floor with strong guard play from East and Bates

• 16:55- Aaron Estrada ties the game at 8-8 with a 3-pointer

• This could potentially be huge for Alabama. Grant Nelson hits a 3-pointer to answer Missouri. The basket in and of itself isn't that big, but Nelson has really struggled with 3s in SEC play, so it could be big for his confidence moving forward, 3-2 Alabama 

• Missouri takes it all the way down to the end of the shot clock, but Tamar Bates hits the floater for the first basket of the game and the 2-0 lead. 

• Alabama wins the opening tip, and this game is underway. 

Starting lineups:

• Nick Pringle is once again starting in the place of the banged up Mohamed Wague. 

Pregame

• About 30 minutes before tip, there aren't many people in the building outside of students. However, that's not entirely unusual for a 6 p.m. weeknight tip.

• With the freezing conditions around the state, The University is planning to let an overflow number of students into Coleman Coliseum to fill in any empty seats after the first media timeout. More than an hour until tipoff, there are already hundreds of students in the student section. 

Game notes

The Broadcast

Tuesday’s game is set for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff and will be aired on the SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play), Dane Bradshaw (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (sideline reporter) on the call.

The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call, while Tom Stipe (engineer) is turning the dials. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

• Head coach Nate Oats is one win away from reaching 200 career wins
• Alabama is looking to start 4-0 in the SEC for the third time under Oats
• Alabama has scored 1,441 points this season (90.1 ppg), the most any UA team has scored in the first 16 games of the season, surpassing the 2000-01 team (1,330 points)
• The Crimson Tide owns the No. 1-ranked offense, according to KenPom
• The Tide is currently ranked No. 4 in the NET, the highest-ranked team in the SEC
• Alabama has four players that are shooting 40 percent or better from three-point range
• Mark Sears is one of 25 candidates named to the 2024 John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top-25 Watch List
• For the first time in his career, Sears was named SEC Co-Player of the Week along with Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht
• Sears is one of four in Division I players in the country and the only Power 5 player that has 325 points, 40 three-pointers, 55 assists and 65 rebounds this season
• Sears ranks No. 1 in the SEC in scoring (20.3 ppg), No. 3 in field goal percentage (54.5), and No. 11 in assists (3.6 apg)
• Alabama is one of six schools in the country that has two players on its current roster that has scored at least 1,500 points throughout their career in Aaron Estrada (1,685 points) and Sears (1,679 points)
• Alabama’s trio of Estrada, Grant Nelson and Sears have each scored over 1,000 points throughout their college career, which is tied for the third most in the country (St. John’s & TCU with four each)
• Alabama head coach Nate Oats became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 career wins at Alabama with UA’s win over Liberty, surpassing Wimp Sanderson (150 games)
• Alabama has posted the No. 1-ranked non-conference schedule in the nation, as its opponents have compiled a .719 winning percentage, posting a combined 115-45 record

About Missouri

• Mizzou has four players scoring double-figures for the first time since 2012-13
• Sean East II has scored at least 15 points in 10-straight games, which is the longest streak by a Tiger since 2017-18
• East II ranks No. 7 in the SEC in scoring, averaging 17.1 ppg
• In five of its six losses since Dec. 9 (in its previous seven games), Missouri has trailed at the break in five and has trailed by at least 10 points at some point during the first 20 minutes four times
• During the last two seasons under Dennis Gates, Missouri is 31-7 when making at least seven triples in a game but just 2-11 with fewer
• Mizzou currently ranks eighth nationally with 5.9 blocks per game