Alabama basketball searching for 'defensive pride' after Clemson loss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team dropped its second game in the last five days, losing to Clemson, 85-77, in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday.

Snapping a 19-game home winning streak, the Crimson Tide played well on the defensive end in the first half, holding the Tigers to 33 points. But things unraveled after halftime as Clemson put up 52 points and shot 60 percent from the floor, including 8-of-11 from three.

Alabama (5-2) has now played against three Power 5 teams in its last three games, facing Ohio State, Oregon and Clemson after Thanksgiving, and has allowed 89.3 points per outing.

“We’ve got to get some defensive pride about us, all of us,” head coach Nate Oats said. “Those guards coming off of screens, we’re not into the ball enough, we’re not up into it. (Joseph) Girard is good. They have really good players. We’ve got to do a better job. 

“That was multiple times where the other team’s best player or players go for more than their season average. PJ Hall had 21, Girad with 16 and Chase Hunter with 15. We’ve got to do a better job on guys that we know that they’re going to go to, particularly out of a timeout when we go on a run and get a lead.

“So we’ve got to get better on defense. We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to show some pride. I’ve got to do a better job coaching it. We’ve got to do a better job as a program getting our team better on defense.”

The Tide got off to a poor shooting start, missing its first nine 3-pointers on Tuesday night, but it found its footing in the second half, going 7-of-17. The offense isn’t the problem for Alabama as the calendar gets set to turn to December. UA ranks first in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, at 122.4 points scored per 100 possessions.

Its defense, however, continues to fall down the rankings. Alabama entered the contest at No. 61 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, but after the 8-point loss to the Tigers at Coleman Coliseum, it dropped to No. 88 (100.1) as of Wednesday morning’s update rankings.

“Our offense is there,” said UA senior guard Mark Sears. “We’re like the No. 1 offensive team in the country. But our defense is not there. We’re like No. 60 in the country. No matter how good on offense we are, if we don’t get our defense fixed, we can’t win games.”

Alabama will have a chance to bounce back Monday, Dec. 4, when Arkansas State and former assistant coach Bryan Hodgson come to town. But after that, the Tide faces a gauntlet stretch of games against Purdue – which is No. 4 in offensive efficiency – Creighton (No. 16) and Arizona (No. 8). The focus for Alabama will be almost strictly on its defense moving forward.

“I can assure you most of our time for the next – until we figure it out – practices, a week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, it’s going to be about 90 percent of the defensive end,” Oats said. “Our offense has enough firepower and we’ll make enough tweaks to get where our offense needs to be.

“But we’ve got to get some defensive-minded guys that can play for 40 minutes on the defensive end.”

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