TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 13/13 Alabama men's basketball team came back from a double-digit second half deficit and defeated No. 24/RV Florida in overtime, 98-93, Wednesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The contest featured eight ties and 16 lead changes in the back-and-forth thriller.
Alabama (19-7, 11-3 SEC) trailed for a majority of the game and went down by as many as 10 points, 72-62, at the 8:40 mark of the second half. However, back-to-back threes from Sam Walters sparked a 15-4 Crimson Tide run to regain the lead 77-76 with 4:25 remaining. After Mark Sears drained a pair of free throws to tie the game and send it to overtime in the final seconds, Aaron Estrada scored six of the Tide's 13 points in the extra period to lift UA to the team's 16th consecutive home conference win.
Grant Nelson led the way for the Crimson Tide with 22 points, eight rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. He was joined in double figures by Estrada (20), Sears (17), Walters (14), Nick Pringle (13) and Rylan Griffen (10).
Florida (18-8, 8-5) was led by Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"Wow that was a wild game, but we figured out a way to win it. I told our guys, sometimes when you play bad you have to figure out ways to win games and I thought we figured it out. A couple of plays come to mind; Sam (Walters) hit some big threes and it wasn't just the threes he hit though, he got a tip in a big possession late in the game that kept the ball alive for Aaron (Estrada) to go on and get the put back. Aaron almost had a triple-double and I thought that this was probably Grant's (Nelson) best game. The three in the corner was huge, but the six blocks were bigger.
If you're going to win a championship, these are the games that you have to figure out ways to win, even when you don't play well. After going down 10, we got together in the huddle, like we did at Georgia. We said we're going to figure out a way to win this game and make some big plays. I thought this was maybe (Mark) Sears' best game defensively and it showed with that big steal that he had late in the game. We continued to figure out ways to win this game when we didn't play well.
But for us to outscore them 56-40 in the paint was huge for this game. So, give our guys a lot of credit for figuring out a way to win a game. They (Florida) came in with a great game plan and played well, especially with their guards. Give our guys a ton of credit and Florida a lot of credit. We are going to have to play much better at their place. But we've got two days to lock in on a scouting report and do a much better job on Saturday than we did tonight."
Team Stats
- The Crimson Tide has won four consecutive matchups against Florida dating back to 2021
- It is the eighth consecutive SEC game that Alabama has scored at least 80 points, the longest since Kentucky in 2016-17
- Tonight's victory over UF marks gives UA a league-best 60 SEC wins since the 2019-20 season
- Alabama has won 16 straight SEC home games, the longest winning streak since 1988
- It was the first overtime game for UA since March 1, 2023, when Alabama defeated Auburn 90-85 to clinch the 2023 SEC regular season title
- Alabama improves to 4-2 in overtime games under Nate Oats
- Alabama boasted six players reaching double figures for the first time since last December's win over Liberty
- Alabama dished out 19 assists against the Gators
- The Tide outscored Florida inside the paint, 56-40
- Alabama's depth proved to be a big difference, outscoring Florida's reserves, 29-13
- UA outrebounded UF 54-44
- Jarin Stevenson made his first career start in the win
- Walters hit a season's best four three-pointers, besting his previous high three against Arizona
- Nelson led the Tide in scoring for the fifth time this season
- Sears had his streak of scoring 20 or more points snapped at eight straight games
First Half
- The opening stanza saw two ties and 11 lead changes prior to the first media timeout, with UF holding the slight 20-18 advantage
- A 7-0 run helped propel Florida to a 41-37 halftime lead
- Alabama led 28-18 in points in the paint
- The Tide held a 30-22 edge in total rebounds in the first stanza
- Alabama swatted five shots in the first half
- Grant Nelson led UA in scoring with nine points in the first half, the senior also swatted four shots
Second Half
- Alabama grabbed its first lead of the second half with 17:56 remaining in the game, the Tide's first lead since the 11:47 mark of the first half
- Sam Walters buried the Tide's first three of the second half at the 11:00 mark
- Walters hit another three on the following possession to cut the Gator lead to five
- Alabama used a 10-0 run over 1:48 to take a 77-76 lead with 4:24 left in the game
- A pair of free throws from Sears deadlocked the game at 85, and sent the game to overtime
Overtime
- Alabama outscored Florida 13-8 in the overtime period
- Aaron Estrada led UA in the overtime period with six points, including a put-back layup that made it a two possession game
- The Tide dished out 12 assists in the second half and overtime on 17 made field goals
- After a slow start from beyond the arc in the opening half, UA shot 62 percent (5-8) from three
Up Next
- Alabama will return action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Lexington, Ky. to square off against the No. 17/17 Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena
- The game is slated for a 3 p.m. CT tipoff and will air live on CBS
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