Alabama came within seconds of forcing overtime in its bid to break a then-eight game losing streak to Florida. Guard Ricky Tarrant, playing on an injured ankle, drilled a three with two minutes remaining to tie the game at 50, and with just 53 seconds to play, an Alabama defense that had held Florida to only 15 points in the second half prepared to hold the Gators one last time.
For 32 seconds, it did. Then, Dorian Finney-Smith, at full speed, slammed a dunk over Michael Kessens to give Florida a 52-50 lead with 21 seconds to play. Those two points were his only points of the night, and the last scored by any player. Alabama fell 52-50, extending its losing streak against the Gators to nine games. Alabama coach Anthony Grant, a former Florida assistant, has never beaten his former boss, Florida coach Billy Donovan.
Alabama put the ball in the hands of its senior captain Levi Randolph for the final shot attempt after Florida took away the option to feed center Jimmie Taylor the ball at the rim. Randolph attacked the rim and got his shot off, but none other than Finney-Smith met the ball on its way up, blocking it into the right wing as time expired.
“Tough loss for us tonight,” Grant said. “Wish we could have done some things better in the first half. I’ll have to go back and look at it, but I think a lot of it was on us. Florida did a good job attacking us early. 12 turnovers in the first half, they were able to get out in transition and we knew that would be a big key in the game in terms of keeping them from getting easy baskets and we weren’t able to do that in the first half. The second half, obviously, we were able to put ourselves in position down the stretch. A couple of plays didn’t go our way. Give Florida credit, they made the plays they had to make.”
Alabama started slowly in the first half, conceding the lead to Florida after just one minute and 31 seconds of play. Alabama went into the interval down 35-22, with 12 turnovers and shooting 36 percent from the field.
“I guess poor ball movement,” guard Rodney Cooper said of the team’s early game offense. “It wasn’t anything they were doing, we were just making bad decisions.”
Taylor left the game early after picking up two quick fouls in the opening minutes of the first half, playing two minutes before being called for two charges.
“Jimmie helps a lot on offensive rebounding and also rebounds on the defensive end,” Cooper said. “He’s a presence down low so it’s a big loss when he comes out of the game.”
The Crimson Tide started the second half on a 16-6 run to tie the game on a Tarrant breakaway layup with 7:21 to play. Florida turned the ball over nine times in the second half and shot 35 percent from the field.
“Coach tells us we’re at our best when we play with a lot of energy and effort,” Cooper said. “That’s what we tried to do in the second half.”
Three minutes later, Tarrant went down with an ankle injury, subbing out to be examined by trainers before returning one minute later. He played the rest of the game, limping noticeably, but scored the game-tying layup to give Alabama a chance.
“Ricky, he’s a tough player,” Cooper said. “He just makes big plays. That’s the type of player he is.”
The loss marks Alabama’s fourth contest in five decided by one basket, when Alabama has gone 1-3. This loss, to a team that entered the game at 10-9, hurts Alabama’s tournament hopes more than any other, but Grant distilled it to a simple assessment.
“They won the game,” Grant said.
