The Alabama basketball team kept it close but will be left wondering what might have been after falling to the No. 6 Florida Gators Saturday night. Alabama’s second leading scorer, Retin Obasohan was a late scratch from the game, unable to play with a strained hip flexor he sustained in Tuesday’s practice. Without Obasohan, Florida’s 30 points from three-point range proved too much as the Crimson Tide saw its 14-game home conference win streak snapped. Florida beat Alabama for the 10th consecutive time, outscoring the Crimson Tide 65-59.
Florida attempted a season-high 28 3-pointers on the night, making 10 en route to an efficient victory. Sophomore Guard Michael Frazier led Florida with 18 points, shooting 5-13 on the night – all from behind the arc. Alabama Senior Trevor Releford said Florida’s long-range shooting, and Frazier’s in particular, hurt the Crimson Tide.
“Those threes hurt our momentum,” Releford said. “We just gave Frazier his confidence, and … he just kept letting it go.”
Frazier said Florida Coach Billy Donovan placed his confidence in the Sophomore, riding Frazier’s shot even when he was cold.
“We struggled to get it going tonight, but they just told me to keep shooting,” Frazier said. “We knew we needed to get stops, move the ball and then get good shots. Even if they weren’t going in every time, we were able to get good looks, and that’s all you can really do.
Inside the arc, Alabama struggled to quiet Senior Forward Casey Prather. Prather had 14 points on the night, shooting 6-16 – all inside the paint. For his part, Prather credits his success to half-time adjustments and Frazier’s shooting.
“We knew we had to get the ball deep into the zone in order to get good shots at the basket,” Frazier said. “I think we did a good job with that in the second half … When you have a shooter like Frazier, you have to respect him. It opens up gaps for me, Kasey Hill and Scottie Wilbekin to drive, get in the lane and make baskets.”
Grant credited Frazier for making his shots to beat Alabama’s zone defense, but blamed his team’s loss on missed offensive rebounds.
“We felt like [the zone] gave us the best chance today,” Grant said. “Give them credit, Frazier stepped up. He got free sometimes when we shouldn’t have let him free, but he also did a good job … I think probably the story of the game is their ability to get second shots and offensive rebounds. They had 18 offensive rebounds [to Alabama’s 15] and that was probably the difference in the game … Nick [Jacobs] has always had the ability to score, but we’re gonna need more than 1 rebound.”
For Alabama, Obasohan’s absence undoubtedly hurt – not only in scoring, but on rebounding and defense. The redshirt sophomore averages 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
“[Obasohan] being gone helped them,” Releford said. “Retin definitely could have helped us if he was out there. We missed him tonight. Hopefully we can get him back for the next game and go from there.”
With Obasohan gone, Florida was able to focus their resources on stopping Releford, Alabama’s leading scorer and, according to Donovan, the best finisher in the SEC.
“In my opinion, you have to commit two people to him,” Donovan said. “When you commit two people to him, you have to be really good with your hands … To me he’s the best guy in this league at finishing, for his size.”
Grant said there is no update on Obasohan, but he “will probably be a game-time decision” when Alabama hosts LSU on Saturday. That game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
