TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 7/8 Alabama men’s basketball team fell to No. 5/5 Florida, 99-94, on Wednesday night in Coleman Coliseum. The contest marked the final home game of the season for the Crimson Tide, which fell to 23-7 on the season and 12-5 in SEC play.

Mark Sears led Alabama with a game-high 30 points to pace five players in double figures, while adding six rebounds and five assists on the night. Labaron Philon had 19 points with Clifford Omoruyi (11), Grant Nelson (10) and Aiden Sherrell (10) also reaching double figures in the loss. 

The Gators (26-4, 13-4 SEC) were led by Alex Condon’s 27-point, 10-rebound effort and Walter Clayton Jr. added 21 points and eight assists.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

“Give Florida a lot of credit for the way they came in and played us tough, they looked like they had more energy than us. I don’t know if it was a lag from the tough loss at Tennessee, if our guys were just tired, I don’t know. We got outrebounded by 15, we knew they were a tough rebounding team and we’re usually better than that when we go into a game knowing that we have to rebound. It seemed like they beat us on every 50-50 ball. They obviously destroyed us on the glass, they doubled us in second-chance points and we gave up 26 fastbreak points – about half of their points came on second chances or in transition, so we have to be better. It doesn’t matter what your gameplan is if you don’t get back on defense and can’t get a rebound. We are going have to figure it out before we go to Auburn, it’s going be a tough game for us there. We know we can’t win the SEC regular season, but we’re playing for SEC Tournament seeding and NCAA Tournament seeding, so I thought we’d get a little better effort than we got from some of these guys tonight.”

Team Stats

• Alabama was outrebounded 50-35 in the contest, including a 16-10 UF advantage on the offensive glass to result in a 19-10 advantage for the Gators in second chance points
• It was only the fourth time this season the Tide has been outrebounded in a game and just the second time it occurred in SEC play (LSU outrebounded Alabama, 43-41 on Jan. 25)
• The Tide scored over 90 points for the 16^th time this season, the most in Division I            
• Mark Sears collected his third game of the season scoring 30-or-more points, all of which have come across the Tide’s last five contests
• Aiden Sherrell turned in his second career double-digit scoring effort, scoring 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, including two made three’s
• Alabama finished shooting 47 percent (34-of-72) from the field, 36 percent (9-of-25) from deep and 68 percent (17-of-25) from the charity stripe
• In comparison, Florida finished at 49 percent shooting (35-of-72) from the floor, 30 percent from three (8-of-27) and 72 percent (21-of-29) from the free throw line

First Half 

• After a slow start in which neither team scored in the first 90 seconds of the game, the teams combined to shoot 10-of-14 from the floor as Florida opened an early 15-8 lead
• The Crimson Tide connected on four consecutive field goals, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Aden Holloway and Aiden Sherrell, using an 11-0 run to take a 19-15 lead with 11:28 to play in the half
• Florida punched back with a 12-4 spurt, connecting on 5-of-9 field goal attempts over a five-minute stretch, while the Crimson Tide went 1-of-9 from the floor during that span
• The final eight minutes of the half went back-and-forth, with the lead changing hands on four occasions and neither team building an advantage larger than five points
• The Gators scored five unanswered points to close the half and take a 41-40 lead into the break

Second Half 

• Though Florida scored on its opening possession in the second stanza, Alabama raced out to a 52-47 lead, thanks to a 5-of-7 shooting effort to open the half
• The Gators utilized a 28-11 run over the next 8:38 to take a 12-point lead with 7:41 to play
• Trailing by 11 points with 3:20 remaining, Alabama utilized a quick 6-0 run to pull within five points, but the Gators extended the lead back to 91-82 with just over a minute remaining in the contest
• Labaron Philon and Jarin Stevenson each hit three-pointers in the final minute to help trim the deficit to 94-90 with 20.7 seconds to play, but the Tide would not get any closer

Up Next

• Alabama will play its final game of the regular season on Saturday, March 8, at No. 1/1 Auburn
• Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN