Alabama and Houston’s men’s basketball programs are hardly strangers, having met twice within the past three years while jockeying for position as national contenders, both tight Crimson Tide wins. In an overtime slugfest on the opening night of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Alabama prevailed for the third straight time, limiting the Cougars to just two points in the extra session en route to an 85-80 win.
“This felt like a Final Four game,” said Alabama guard Mark Sears, who countered a 30-point night from Houston star L.J. Cryer with 24 points to pace the Tide.
It’s the second marquee win this year for Alabama, which beat Illinois last week in Birmingham, and the second top-10 loss in the early nonconference schedule for Houston, which lost to Auburn two weeks ago.
Another test is around the corner for both of these teams in less than 24 hours. Alabama plays Rutgers tomorrow night, while Houston will play Notre Dame.
Career night for Cryer, but struggles down the stretch
Cryer, the preseason All-American, was the best player on the floor, and his 19 second-half points were pivotal considering Houston was short-handed down the stretch. Starting point guard Milos Uzan fouled out in just 12 minutes of action, and without its primary ball handler, Houston turned to its senior leader to handle the offense.
Houston used Cryer in high screen-and-roll situations throughout the second half, and he methodically drained the game clock while finding mismatches off of screens and getting to his spots on the court. But Cryer went cold late, and Houston didn’t have another answer.
Cryer missed his final eight shots, and Houston finished the game on a 3:17 scoring drought.
Mark Sears breaks out, and Aden Holloway continues to impress
Sears, the SEC preseason player of the year, turned in a scoreless performance against Illinois last week. It’s a luxury to have a team deep enough for that not to matter, but getting Sears back on track is huge for Alabama’s long-term goals. It looked like his struggles had followed him to Vegas with just eight first-half points, but he found his rhythm with 16 in the second half, hitting 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
“The first thing is I think he’s gotta understand that it’s gonna be a lot different than any other college year for him,” coach Nate Oats said on Monday. “People are gonna design their defense to stop him. He may play a game where he’s got an unbelievably great game and he only scores five points but he moves the ball around, he attracts so much attention and it makes it easier for his teammates.
“I think one, he’s gotta quit pressing. He’s not gonna average as many points this year as he did last year. We knew that coming in. We’ve got more talent around him. That just is what it is. He’s gotta do what it takes to help us win games.”
What Sears did do well was get to the free throw line, where he hit 12 of 14 . Then he started to find his shot down the stretch, connecting on two big 3-pointers in the second half that set the pace.
Meanwhile, Auburn transfer Aden Holloway continued an impactful start to his Alabama career with 14 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Holloway logged 26 minutes and was a part of Nate Oats’ finishing lineup down the stretch. Alabama’s improved guard play from last year takes the pressure off Sears. If he returns to form and Holloway continues to take a sophomore leap, this backcourt can hit another level.
Houston played the game it wanted, but one area hurt its chances
Defensive rebounding was a concern for Alabama entering Tuesday, having given up 14 offensive rebounds to Illinois and 10 to Purdue. But for all of Houston’s strengths, size is not one of them. The Cougars don’t have a player in their rotation above 6-foot-9, which posed problems against an Alabama team that plays multiple 6-11-plus players. The result was Alabama finishing plus-9 in rebounding margin, including 20 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points.
Dioubate’s star rose thanks to his inspired play during last year’s tournament, including an 8-0 run by himself to lift Alabama over Grand Canyon in the round of 32. Dioubate only played three minutes in Alabama’s last game against Illinois, but on Tuesday night he was a catalyst.
Dioubate posted a double-double: 10 points and 16 rebounds to go with three blocks. At the 11:57 mark in the second half, Dioubate blocked Houston’s Mylik Wilson, which jump-started a transition opportunity for Alabama ending with a Latrell Wrightsell 3 to extend the lead to 56-50. Dioubate continued making plays down the stretch, scoring on a layup in overtime to extend Alabama’s lead to 84-80 and then blocking and simultaneously rebounding a Houston shot with less than 30 seconds left to help preserve the win.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ON BOTH ENDS FOR ALABAMA 🔥
The Tide open up a 6-point cushion 👀 @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/GCjYbRUlRF
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 27, 2024
Against a team like Houston, Dioubate was the perfect piece to play, bringing versatility, toughness, defense, good-decision making. There are games where Dioubate’s play doesn’t show up in stats and even games where he might not have a role at all, but he showed again on Tuesday he can be counted upon in big moments. For a team chasing another Final Four appearance, contributors like that are critical.
(Photo: Candice Ward / Getty Images)
