TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 8/9 Alabama men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night, falling 87-80 to the No. 2/1 Purdue Boilermakers. The contest featured 21 lead changes and 14 ties throughout with neither team holding more than an eight-point lead.

Alabama (2-1) was led by Aden Holloway who scored 21 points, 14 of which came in the opening half, on 7-for-13 shooting from the field, including five three-pointers. The Tide had three others in double figures, including Taylor Bol Bowen (13 points), Aiden Sherrell (12 points) and Labaron Philon Jr. (11 points).

Braden Smith led Purdue (2-0) with 29 points, shooting 7-for-19 from the floor, including five threes and 10 made free throws. Smith scored 21 of his points in the second half. Following Smith was Trey Kaufman-Renn’s 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds after missing the team’s season-opener with an injury.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“First off, I want to thank our fans. That was a great environment. The student section I thought was terrific, so big-game environment. I think our program has gotten to a point where the guys deserve to play in front of an environment like that and I appreciate them coming up. Hopefully next time we give them a little bit better performance.

“I give Purdue a ton of credit. They’re tough. I think they’re one of the most disciplined teams (in the nation). They run their stuff in a half court, and they know how to attack all your coverages. At the end of the day, the tougher team won tonight. They outrebounded us by 24, that’s embarrassing. In life and sports, the team that plays harder, works harder and whatever field you’re in should win and they won. They deserved to win. They were tougher. My guess is they prepared better coming into the game than we did and we’re going to fix some stuff. The other issue is that their point guard, Braden Smith, I think he’s the best point guard in the country and I think he showed it tonight. I mean, 29 points, seven points and four rebounds is pretty good. He had seven rebounds and our leading rebounder has four.”

Team Stats 

• Neither team achieved a double-digit lead in the matchup, but Purdue claimed the biggest lead with eight points with 5:11 left in the game
• Alabama’s 16 three-pointers were the most it has hit in a game this season, with Aden Holloway (5), Taylor Bol Bowen (3) and Houston Mallette (3) combining for 11 threes made
• Purdue dominated the rebounding effort, grabbing 52 boards (19 offensive) compared to 28 (7 offensive) from the Tide
• As a result, the Boilermakers outscored the Tide 16-7 on second chance points and owned a 30-22 advantage in points in the paint
• Nate Oats‘ offense had 13 fastbreak points compared to 0 from the Boilermakers
• As a team, Alabama shot 28-for-66 (42 percent) from the field, 16-for-44 (36 percent) from three and 8-for-10 (80 percent) from the charity stripe

First Half  

• Purdue jumped out to a seven-point advantage, but a 9-0 run response featuring a trio of three-pointers from Houston Mallette, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Noah Williamson to put Alabama ahead 20-18 with 12:23 left 
• From there, six more lead changes occurred before both squads were tied at 30 points apiece with 7:50 left in the frame
• Neither team achieved more than a three-point lead through the last 13:14 of the half, as Purdue entered halftime leading 43-41
• Overall, the first half saw 13 lead changes and eight different ties
• Aden Holloway led the Tide offensively at the break with 14 points after shooting 4-for-6 from three-point range
• Alabama dished out the ball effectively with 11 assists on 14 made field goals, with Labaron Philon Jr. responsible for five of them
• The Boilermakers had the rebounding advantage at the half with 25 rebounds compared to just 11 for Alabama

Second Half  

• Once again, the Boilermakers took an early advantage with a five-point lead before an 11-4 Alabama run over a span of 3:48 put the Tide ahead 59-57 
• Both squads battled down the stretch, but an 11-3 run by the Boilermakers put Purdue ahead by eight, the biggest lead of the game, with 5:11 to go (79-71)
• The Tide would not go away and responded with a 9-1 run over the next 3:02 to tie the game at 80 apiece
• The Boilermakers would answer, outscoring Alabama 7-0 over the final four-plus minutes to result in the final score
• Philon led the squad in points and rebounds in the half with nine and four, respectively
• The Tide scored 14 points in the paint in the second frame, compared to just 8 in the first half

Up Next 

• Alabama will head north to take on No. 14/14 Illinois in Chicago next Wednesday, Nov. 19.
• Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT inside the United Center and can be seen on FS1