In a matchup with all the emotions of a game in late March, No. 2 Alabama started its road trip with a 87-78 loss to No. 13 Purdue in West Lafayette on Friday, its first of the season.
“Defensively, we got to do a better job in the post,” head coach Nate Oats said. “We got to do a better job keeping teams off the offensive boards. I thought Purdue did a pretty good job on the O-boards with us. We’ve got to do a better job finding shots for our shooter. Those are the biggest things.”
Despite good shooting looks from both teams, the game got off to a slow start. While the Boilermakers started to find their game, making several shots after five minutes, it took the Crimson Tide a while to get going offensively. Alabama uncharacteristically made just one 3 pointer in the first half.
Making that single 3 was freshman guard Labaron Philon, who became the spark that Alabama needed, scoring 10 points and shooting 4/6 from the floor in the first period.
The Crimson Tide began the second half down 2 but began to find its deep range shot. Philon and guards Mark Sears and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. all found the bottom of the net on 3-point attempts in the first five minutes of the half.
The story of the second half was both teams going on long scoring runs. First it was Alabama that had an 8-2 run in the middle of the half, followed by a 13-0 Purdue run due to the Boilermakers’ heavy presence in the paint.
“The coaching staff has got to do a better job prepping for post-ups like that, and we got to do a better job getting our shooters open,” Oats said.
After the run, the Crimson Tide attempted to shoot its way back into the game to no avail, as the Boilermakers pulled away to cement the 9-point win.
Despite the loss, Philon continued to play at a high level in his first college road game, scoring 18 points on 7/10 shooting with five rebounds.
“Labaron’s been really good,” Oats said. “Probably better than what we thought he was going to be. I thought he had a pretty good game tonight.”
The Crimson Tide will return to action on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT in the C.M. Newton Classic at Legacy Arena in Birmingham to play Illinois. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
