As January concludes, Alabama men’s basketball’s four-game winning streak was broken on Wednesday night by a 90-76 loss to No. 22 LSU in Baton Rouge. But during that four-game winning streak, which followed a couple of difficult losses, the team believes it has turned a corner in its ability to finish close games.

FIGHTING IN FLORIDA

Riding three straight games with 90 or more points, Alabama entered conference play on Jan. 4 looking to extend the streak against Florida. While the Crimson Tide did continue the streak, the team did not leave Gainesville with the result it wanted.

Starting the game, the team executed its plan perfectly by jumping to a 21-point lead with 2:19 left in the first half. Florida went on a 7-0 run to end the half and did not stop there. In the opening 1:17 of the second half, the Gators continued on a 9-1 run, combined for a 16-1 run over both halves to cut the lead to just 6.

Alabama fought off Florida for much of the second half and led by 9 with less than three minutes left. The Crimson Tide then squandered its lead, including losing a 6-point advantage in 43 seconds, and lost 104-98 in double overtime.

After the Florida game, coach Nate Oats began to emphasize “first four, last four,” which meant not only to start and end the game strong, but also the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half.

Over the first four and last four minutes of each half, Florida outscored Alabama by 14 points, which sent the Gators into overtime with all the momentum.

“I think we have to start games and close games, and also start and close halves well, too,” Oats said. “We can’t give up big runs. Look at the Florida game. That’s where we lost the game, really in the last minute-and-a-half of the first half and the first minute-and-a-half of the second half. After that game is when we really started talking about that.”

KEEPING UP WITH KENTUCKY

Instilling the “first four, last four” mindset did not impact results immediately, though. In its following road game against No. 13 Kentucky, Alabama shot 19% from 3-point range, its lowest of the year, but still only trailed by three with 2:07 remaining in Rupp Arena. The Crimson Tide would not score for the remainder of the game and lost 76-67.

MESSING WITH MISSOURI

A week later, the results began to show. With Missouri shooting a perfect 31-of-31 from the free-throw line, the Tigers hung around for most of the game. After leading by 7 at halftime, the Crimson Tide responded by extending its lead to 12 in the first four minutes of the half, giving it enough cushion to withstand a late Missouri rally. Outscoring Missouri the rest of the way, Alabama won 88-74.

CANCELING K-STATE

Alabama has seen its fair share of close games this season, having played in eight games decided by 10 or fewer points. Before Saturday it had won only two of them, but it held on to a narrow lead against Kansas State, leading to a 77-74 victory.

“We would’ve loved to get up 16 on K-State and blow the game open, but we were finally able to win a close game,” Oats said. “We’ve got some experience inbounding the ball, taking care of it, making free throws, getting stops when you need them. I think that it is good that we won a close game against K-State because [LSU] has a lot of experience in close games.”

BATTLE IN BATON ROUGE

As the Crimson Tide traveled to Baton Rouge yesterday, the team faced one of its strongest tests this season. No. 22 LSU had won its previous six games by a combined 15 points, a situation where the “first four, last four” mindset was essential against a battle-tested opponent. 

The Tigers, though, jumped out to a 20-point lead late in the first half. An Alabama mini-run got it within 9 points on two separate occasions, but LSU wouldn’t let the Crimson Tide get any closer.

Alabama lost the first four and the final four minutes of the first half by the scores of 10-7 and 8-6. LSU, with the game already in hand, also won the game’s final four minutes 6-5. 

The only “first or final four” the Crimson Tide won was the opening of the second half. Freshman guard Jaden Shackelford made two 3-pointers and junior forward Herbert Jones made two layups to ignite some hope of a comeback.

“We need to start getting better starts at the beginning of the game, the end of the [first] half, beginning of the [second] half and end of the game,” Jones said on Tuesday.

AHEAD OF ARKANSAS

With “first four, last four” still looming over the team as the Crimson Tide travels back home, the team will get another attempt at a quality conference win in its Saturday matchup against Arkansas (15-4 overall, 3-3 SEC entering Wednesday). Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.