Purdue Second Half Shooting Surge Dooms Alabama in Mackey Arena

The Boilermakers 13-0 run in the second frame stunned the Crimson Tide and put Purdue ahead for good on Friday night.

CJ Cox / Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images

It was a Friday night full of lessons for the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide basketball program as they fell to No. 13 Purdue in Mackey Arena 87-78. The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 3-1 on the young season and was the first of seven high-level non-conference matchups as Alabama continually tests itself under head coach Nate Oats.

Alabama actually took the lead on the road in the second half and extended its advantage out to six points, the largest of the night, before Purdue punched back, serving the visitors a 13-0 run to recapture the lead and never give it back.

Oats credited the Boilermakers playmakers for their offensive execution as Purdue showed more sets than Alabama had prepared for. The home team also successfully slowed the game down as Alabama only had 65 offensive possessions throughout the entire game. The high-level execution and long half-court possessions made defending a challenging proposition for the Crimson Tide.

“We got to do a better job guarding some of their actions," Oats said. "I mean, they bring the ball up the floor and they get their primary handlers in the actions. We didn’t do a great job. They were able to get downhill on some of that. And then once we got up six, we were able to play in transition a little bit more, and then they got more into a halfcourt game at that point. When we got in a halfcourt, we didn’t execute some stuff like we needed to and we didn’t do a good job in halfcourt. I’m gonna have to go back and look at that run. I wasn’t aware. Obviously. I knew we got up and then they made a run. I didn’t know. I’ll have to look at that a little bit more on tape.”

Purdue's 13-0 run turned the score from a 65-59 Alabama advantage into a 72-65 Boilermakers lead. Freshman guard C.J. Cox found space on three-straight possessions to knock down three 3-point shots for nine of his 11 points on the night, stunning the Crimson Tide and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.

“We had him now as one of the shooters, but kind of like you said, his reputation coming out of high school as a shooter," Oats said. "They had some guys step up, they got him free, and we didn’t do a great job guarding him. And that was big. His 18 minutes were big. You look, they were plus-nine in his 18 minutes. I mean, outside of Kaufman-Reen and Loyer he was the third-best plus-minus on the team. So he played an efficient in 18 minutes, they got him open and he made shots at a high level. We didn’t anticipate him being that good, but we definitely knew he was capable of shooting it. But he went on a little run there.”