Rylan Griffen flops in attempt to draw technical foul on Joe Girard
Saturday night’s Elite Eight matchup between Clemson and Alabama was getting intense in the final minutes. And players didn’t hesitate to do absolutely anything to get their team an edge. Alabama guard Rylan Griffen decided to take what looked like a blatant flop when he clearly wasn’t even touched by Clemson’s Joe Girard III.
Here’s the play.
It was certainly one of the biggest acting jobs of the year by Griffen, but he’s certainly not the first person to flop to try and draw a foul and he won’t be the last. That being said, he wasn’t fooling anybody with that acting job. There was no foul called on the play by officials.
Griffen had an excellent game, stuffing the stat sheet with 13 points, six assists, and four rebounds.
Alabama managed to pull out the win in one of the biggest wins in school history on Saturday night, coming away with an 89-82 win that the Crimson Tide faithful won’t soon forget. The final few minutes of the second half were absolutely electric, with both teams trading baskets down the stretch.
Alabama sharpshooter Mark Sears found freon coursing through his veins when his team needed it the most down the stretch, draining clutch three after clutch three. And the Crimson Tide managed to pull off one of the biggest wins in school history, 89-82, and punched their tickets to their first Final Four ever.
The Crimson Tide were scorching hot from the outside, connecting on 16 of their 36 shots from beyond-the-arc (44.4%). Clemson got plenty of scoring from all of their stars (Schieffelin–18 points), (Hall–14 points), (Hunter–12 points), and (Girard–19 points). They even got 12 points from R.J. Godfrey, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to keep pace with a high-octane Crimson Tide offensive attack.
The Tigers shot very poorly from the free throw line, which proved to be crucial in deciding the outcome, only hitting eight of their 16 attempts (50%) from the charity stripe.
Alabama has had one of the best offenses in college basketball all season long and it delivered in the big moments on Saturday night when they needed it. The Crimson Tide also manhandled Clemson on the glass, outrebounding them 44-33. Nick Pringle had 11 rebounds, Aaron Estrada had eight boards, and Grant Nelson chipped in seven.
Up next, the Crimson Tide will face the top-seeded UConn Huskies in the Final Four. UConn has looked like one of the most dominant teams in college basketball history, which is why the Huskies are currently favored by 11.5 points, according to DraftKings. You can check out more on the odds and breakdown of that matchup here.