Cold shooting, lost rebounding battles, and fouls doom Alabama. The Tide must find rhythm fast or risk a February February.
Alabama basketball is officially at one of those “okay, this is real now” moments.
On Saturday, #17 Alabama fell 79-73 to an unranked Tennessee team at home, and it wasn’t just the loss that stings, it was how it happened. Because when you’re playing in the SEC, you don’t get the luxury of “we’ll figure it out later.”
Later turns into February, and February turns into a seed line you don’t want.
Alabama struggled across the board. The Tide shot 43% from the field, which isn’t terrible on paper… but it didn’t matter because the three-point shooting completely disappeared. Alabama went 6-for-26 from deep, just 23%, and when your offense is built around pace, spacing, and knocking down open looks, that number is a death sentence.
And it didn’t stop there.
Alabama also got out-rebounded 36-28, and that right there tells the whole story.
You can survive cold shooting nights, but you can’t survive cold shooting nights and losing the battle on the glass. Rebounding is effort. It’s toughness. It’s discipline. It’s wanting the ball more than the other guy. Tennessee wanted it more, and they proved it for 40 minutes.
Then came the fouls.
Alabama committed 22 fouls, and that’s a killer in a game that was tight late.
You can’t put teams on the line, stop your own momentum, and expect to win close SEC games. It’s the kind of stat that screams frustration. It screams reaching instead of moving your feet. It screams a team that’s not in rhythm defensively.
But the biggest storyline of the night might’ve been the return of Charles Bediako, and honestly, it’s still wild to even type that.
His story right now is one of the most unique in college basketball, and Alabama needed him. He finished with 12 points and 3 rebounds, and even if he’s still working his way back into the Tide's game plan, his presence matters. Alabama has missed that interior anchor. That rim protection. That physical body that changes shots and gives you a chance to survive when your perimeter offense goes cold.
Labaron Philon did everything he could to drag Alabama across the finish line, dropping 26 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds. That’s a leader’s stat line. That’s a guy refusing to let the game slip away without a fight. But basketball isn’t one-on-five, and right now Alabama is asking too much of too few.
And here’s the truth Alabama fans don’t want to hear: the injury bug has absolutely wrecked this team’s consistency.
Lineups change.
Roles change.
Chemistry gets delayed.
And in a league like the SEC, you don’t get time to “grow into it” while everyone else is stacking wins.
That’s why Alabama has to figure this out quickly, because the standard in Tuscaloosa is not just making the tournament.
It’s winning games in March.
It’s playing with toughness.
It’s defending like it matters.
It’s rebounding like your season depends on it.
And the clock is already ticking.
Because Alabama doesn’t get a break. The Tide will be right back in the fire when they host Missouri on the 27th, and that game is going to matter more than people realize. Missouri is the kind of opponent that will punish you if you come out flat, and Alabama can’t afford another night of missed threes, second-chance points allowed, and foul trouble piling up.
This team has the talent. They’ve shown flashes. But flashes don’t win you conference games.
Alabama has to get back on track, and they have to do it right now.
Roll Tide.