TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 13/12 Alabama men’s basketball team erased a 13-point deficit in the second half, but was unable to capitalize in the final minutes, falling 92-88 to the Texas Longhorns inside Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night.

Alabama (11-5, 1-2 SEC) saw 39 combined points from its backcourt duo of Labaron Philon Jr. (21 points) and Aden Holloway (18 points), with the pair sinking 13 free throws between the two of them. The Tide had three others in double figures including Aiden Sherrell (13 points), along with Amari Allen and Taylor Bol Bowen who contributed 11 points apiece.

Texas (10-6, 1-2 SEC) was led offensively by Jordan Pope’s 28 points off 8-for-17 shooting, including six three-pointers to go along with three rebounds in his 30 minutes of action.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“Obviously not a good loss. When you’re trying to win the league, you can’t afford to give up a loss at home. You’ve got to give Texas a bunch of credit; I told our guys, this is going to be a much better team. Coach Sean Martin does a good job wherever he’s been. Those guys have some pride. He called his guys out in postgame press conferences and they turned it around. We have to look at what I’m doing to not get enough effort out of these guys. Texas just out-toughed us in the second half particularly, even in the start of the first half too. They got to the free throw line well, they shot 22 free throws in the second half, so we kept putting them at the line. We’re just not good enough defensively right now.

“We’ve got to be better. It seems like every time we play opponents, their backcourt has their way with us. (Vanderbilt’s) Tyler Tanner had 29 points, Jordan Pope had 28 today and he was averaging 12 going in and ended up with 28. We have to get significantly better on defense, starting right at the top. I have to look at what we’re doing, what our matchups are, what our gameplan is. We have to get some players out that have some pride. I think we gave up 16 points in the first half off straight isolation plays. I have to get the right combination of guys out there with a little bit of a defensive mentality.”

Team Stats 

• Taylor Bol Bowen picked up his first double-double of the season and third of his career, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds
• Texas won the rebounding battle, 48-38, securing 18 boards on the offensive glass resulting in 20 second chance points
• The Longhorns controlled the scoreboard for the majority of the matchup as well, leading for 34:28 compared to Alabama leading for just 4:09
• Both teams got to the free throw line with ease as Alabama sank 19-of-27 attempts from the stripe and Texas converted 22-of-32 attempts from the line
• The Tide swatted away nine shots throughout the night, while Amari Allen recorded a season-high four blocks for himself

First Half  

• Texas found the scoreboard first, scoring the first four points of the game before a 12-3 Alabama run from 19:08-16:23 (2:45) put the Tide ahead 12-7 in the opening minutes
• The Longhorns found its offensive momentum down the stretch, going on a 17-6 run from 14:49-10:42 (4:07) to take a 27-21 lead
• Texas continued to stay on the gas offensively, claiming its biggest lead of the half of 11 points with 2:59 remaining in the frame (45-34)
• Alabama closed the final 2:33 on a 11-1 run, but the Longhorns remained ahead 46-45 to enter the break
• Aden Holloway led the way offensively for the Tide with nine points, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe
• Alabama had eight different scorers in first half, with six of them scoring four or more points

Second Half  

• The Longhorns came out hot to begin the second half, opening the first 3:14 on a 12-4 run to take a 55-47 lead while Alabama made just one of its first eight shots
• Texas continued to hold its advantage down the stretch, blossoming its lead to 13 points, 69-56, with 11:27 to go
• From there, the Tide immediately responded with a 17-5 run from 11:17-6:43 (4:34) to cut the Texas lead down to just one point, 74-73, at the under-eight media timeout
• After both squads traded baskets for the next four minutes, the Longhorns held their lead to the final buzzer to secure the win
• Labaron Philon Jr. led Alabama in scoring with 13 points in the closing frame, shooting 4-for-8 from the field and 5-for-7 from the free throw line
• Texas controlled the boards in the second half, grabbing 29 compared to Alabama’s 19, with 12 Longhorn rebounds coming on the offensive glass leading to 13 second chance points

Up Next

• Alabama will begin a two-game road trip, starting with traveling to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday, Jan. 13
• Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. CT inside Humphrey Coliseum and can be seen on SEC Network