No. 10 Alabama defeated the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill 94-79 Wednesday in the ACC/SEC Challenge, with six players scoring in double digits.
“I thought our guys showed a lot of toughness and resilience,” head coach Nate Oats said. “We came off of a tough loss to Oregon and easily could have let that loss turn into two. But I thought they got their minds right. I thought they were ready to play.”
It took a few minutes for Alabama to adjust to the hostile atmosphere, as the team shot just 1/6 to start the game. The Crimson Tide began to catch fire going into the under-12-minute media timeout, leading 21-14 and having made 7/11 field goals, including three 3-pointers.
In the next four minutes, Alabama outscored the Tar Heels 10-4 to grow the lead to 31-18 with eight minutes remaining in the half.
North Carolina didn’t take this lightly, going on a 7-0 run of its own to get the score to 31-25 with six minutes to play.
“For the most part we took care of the ball, but late against the press and late in the first half, we weren’t good with it,” Oats said.
The energy shifted back to the side of the Crimson Tide when center Clifford Omoruyi threw down a booming dunk to give his team momentum with five minutes left in the half.
Big Slam from Clifford Omoruyi
Bama leads by 10 at the under 4 timeout pic.twitter.com/ErAq8vnSo0
— SEC Hoops World (@SEC_Wrld) December 5, 2024
“I thought our bigs did a great job going vertical at the rim,” Oats said.
Alabama took a 43-34 lead into the half and made five out of its last seven shots. The key to the opening frame was taking advantage of the 9 turnovers that the Tar Heels committed. Six of the team’s first-half points came off turnovers.
The Crimson Tide came out of the locker room hot, going on a 14-10 run to start the second half, making 5 out of 9 shots in the first 5 minutes and taking a 57-44 lead.
Alabama continued to take advantage of the Tar Heels’ mistakes, extending its lead to 15 with 12 minutes remaining. The 65-50 score was influenced heavily by the 11.8% shooting from behind the arc for North Carolina up to that point.
The Tar Heels began to gain some life, forcing multiple Alabama turnovers and cutting the score to 74-64 with 7 minutes left to play.
From then until the under-4:00 timeout, North Carolina could not muster enough momentum to go on much more of a run. The Crimson Tide continued to hold the Tar Heels at an arm’s-length, leading 82-69.
Ultimately, Alabama cruised to a 94-79 win at one of the loudest atmospheres in college basketball, improving its record to 7-2.
“The half-court spacing was significantly better,” Oats said. “I thought we got better shots. We were able to hit 12 3s. We’d still like to get more off, but we were able to take care of the ball better and get some 3s.”
Guard Mark Sears led the Crimson Tide in scoring, dropping 20 points on 7/14 shooting from the field. He added 7 assists and a pair of rebounds.
Guards Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway scored 15 points each. All of Holloway’s points came from behind the arc, as he made 5/10 from range. This was unlike Philon, who scored all his points in the paint.
“He’s earned the right to play well,” Oats said of Philon. “He comes into some of these games not scared and he brings it on both ends of the floor. He’s played really well in big games for us.”
Omoruyi and forward Grant Nelson put together solid performances, scoring 11 and 10, respectively. Nelson ended the game with the most rebounds of any player on either team, with 9.
Guard Houston Mallette saw his first action of the season in place of the injured Latrell Wrightsell Jr. He played nine minutes and scored 6 points on 2/2 shooting from 3.
“Houston was unselfish enough to come off his redshirt,” Oats said. “He was plus-12 in nine minutes, hit two 3s and made defensive plays.”
The Crimson Tide will return to Coleman Coliseum for a matchup against Creighton on Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on SEC Network.
