Alabama’s historic 2024 season has finally come to an end.

The Crimson Tide ran into a loaded UConn team on Saturday night in Phoenix, and fell 86-72. It was the Huskies’ 11th consecutive NCAA Tournament win by double digits dating back to last season.

Alabama led the Huskies for a period of time in the first half, but was unable to sustain its high level of play on either end of the floor. All 5 UConn starters ended up scoring in double figures, led by Stephon Castle with 21 points.

Here are 3 takeaways from Alabama’s loss to the Huskies:

A valiant 1st-half effort goes unrewarded

Alabama came out firing and had a strong showing in the 1st half against the Huskies. The Crimson Tide went 8-for-11 from deep, but still trailed for most of the period.

Mark Sears, Alabama’s best offensive player all season long, went 5-for-5 from the field prior to halftime. Rylan Griffen, Aaron Estrada and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. all made multiple 3-pointers in the opening half.

Despite that offensive success, UConn led 44-40 at the break. Freshman Stephon Castle was a standout performer in the first half, scoring 13 points and hitting a couple of 3-pointers. Donovan Clingan was also a major reason why the Huskies led at the break as he scored an efficient 8 points and blocked 2 shots.

Ultimately, the first half was a picture into Alabama’s best chance to win this game — hit a large number of 3-point shots and hope UConn missed its chances from long range. That trend played out over the course of the first half, but didn’t sustain for 40 minutes. Even with the discrepancy in 3-point prodcution, UConn was good enough in other areas (such as from 2-point range or on the glass) to make up for it.

Mark Sears stepped up

As he’s been all season, Sears was tremendous in this game. He finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and was the Tide’s most consistent source of offense all night long. He also added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.

Sears went 3-of-6 from 3-point range in the loss and was Alabama’s only player to make multiple 3-pointers in the second half. He was also Alabama’s leading scorer in the second half with 13 points.

Sears still has one more year of eligibility remaining, but he could opt to turn pro after breaking through as one of college basketball’s best scorers in 2024. If this was his last game at Alabama, then he capped off remarkable 2-year career in Tuscaloosa with one of his best performances to-date.

Heads held high

Despite the loss, Alabama should have no regrets about its performance in this game or about its NCAA Tournament run in general. The Tide reached the Final Four for the first time in program history and, under Nate Oats, appear poised to make other similar runs in the near future.

Alabama simply ran into one of the best college basketball teams in recent memory. UConn is KenPom’s highest-rated power-conference team since the 2015 Kentucky squad that went undefeated during the regular season, only to lose to Wisconsin in the Final Four. This UConn team has at least 3 players who are expected to be picked in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft, and could have 4. Two of those players, Castle and Clingan, could go in the top-10.

Looking ahead, Alabama should have every opportunity to continue this momentum next season. Oats and his staff will need to bring in new talent via the transfer portal, but they’ve already been successful in signing high school talent. Alabama has signed a trio of top-50 high school recruits in the class of 2024, per 247Sports Composite rankings. Other players like Jarin Stevenson and Rylan Griffen could have expanded roles in 2024-25 as well. Despite this loss, there’s a lot to look forward to with Oats at the helm in Tuscaloosa.