Alabama falls short of national championship game berth in Final Four loss to UConn
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.
They put up a good fight, but ran into a better team playing better. Congrats to Bama for making history.
Awful nice of you.
Against the defending national champs Bama needed to have their ‘A’ game. Unfortunately they only had an ‘A-‘ game tonight. Great effort, guys.
“A-“?? Bama couldn’t play any better than they did, especially in the first half and were still behind at halftime. They played their A++ game, it just wasn’t enough.
What Bama needed was for UConn to faceplant, or play a C- or D game, and that didn’t happen. UConn didn’t play great, but at least played a B- or B for them.
We were right there with them until the threes refused to fall. In addition to all that UConn talent, they also have a decided edge in playing these high-stakes games and really looked like a well-oiled machine. But we did a lot more than anyone expected, both after the regular season and SEC Tournament slump and even all the way back to last November when the consensus was that we would be in the middle of the pack in the SEC and would be riding the bubble. And we are the only team so far to even give UConn a game in the second half. Great job to this team and to Coach Oats! Proud of you!
We all knew ALL the 3’s and some semblence of interior defense had to happen and, well…first half kinda got us all hoping. But man, that danged UConn squad just balls out ferociously. If ya gotta get a b^tt whipping, I guess I’d rather know it was by a much better team having to play hard than…Yale (snicker). RTR!!!
Bet Auburn thought they might lose to a team from Connecticut, just not to Yale.
Congrats donke, your team made it as far as ours did in the NIT…participation trophy on order…
Oh well, I guess one can take pride in doing well in the JV tournament. Happens in high schools everywhere. You were making so much progress in containing that Bama jealousy by staying away from Bama articles. Keep trying and consider this just a backsliding moment. I am here trying to help you beat that Bama addiction. Keep trying. Good luck.
There is that AU obsession rearing it’s ugly head. I find it immensely amusing that even though bama (Saban) has clearly set the bar in football and your bball team just had a great run, you can’t go even a few minutes without bringing up AU. It seems to be a theme that bammers like to try and explain away by saying it is the other way around. Maybe it is because of the US News and World report College ranking which has AU #1 in the state and way ahead of bama in the Nation.
Never mind all the bravado Auburn was saying before the tournament started.
Good run ‘Bama , getting to the F4 in its self is an accomplishment. Congrats on that.
Congrats to Bama on a very nice season! I thought they had a better roster last year- which speaks even more to the coaching job by Oats.
Bama lost? I had no idea. That makes me sad to hear…oh darn.
Well LH you were making some progress on getting over that Bama obsession. Don’t let this one backslide keep you from trying to get well.
Good to add Bama to the list of SEC teams that have made the final 4 that still doesn’t include the Vols
Imagine bragging about being a loser. Weird.
TN and Bama get to hoist the same trophy at the end of the day. Oddly enough, it’s the exact same one Georgia got.
Congrats on the participation award that you so highly covet.
Imagine getting so upset that a Bama fan on a Bama articles makes a factual statement. Still waiting on that comment from Vil_88 on a Vil article so I can show him his team does not own me like Bama does him. Guess his constant trolling of Bama just does not allow him the time to do so. Funny to watch how much control Bama has over him.
Hello my love. It’s been too long. I knew you yearned for me and my presence. I could not bear for us to be apart any longer.
Imagine being so obsessed with a singular human due to the fact they will own you until the end of time. That’s you. Being overly obsessed with me.
There’s the most factual statement from a Vol anyone will ever see. Donk being beyond obsessed with me is actual comedy at this point.
Wait….I take it back. This is the most factual statement ever from a Vol fan
Donk does not have an MBA, is not a CPA, and there is proof in his posts. It’s obvious he’s no older than 12 due to the very limited grammar and constant repetitiveness of his posts. Also, it’s the irrational fear and shear lack of intelligence to go comment literally anywhere else on this site. I comment anywhere. TN articles. Bama articles. Florida articles. Georgia articles. You name it. But donkey. No no no no. It’s scary outside of the Bama comment section. There’s too much intelligence out there for this one to handle.
Funny to watch how much control I have over Donk.
I am his puppeteer. Dance for me boy. Dance.
Major Championships this century won by Tennessee Universities:
Vanderbilt – 2 (CWS titles)
Vols – 0
LOL…You clowns are “little brother” in your own state…to Vanderbilt lol.
Don’t feel so entitled Vil_88. I call out a lot of trolls like LH.Doug, Ron and Negan. You just seem to get the most upset when somebody points out how much pain Bama causes you. Seems you are writing Negan length comments now trying to relieve that pain. Cue the 3rd grade comments and shouting. 34-20. Enjoy the meltdown all.
Imagine being known not only to your own country, but to the world, as the location where pumping it into your family is not only common place, but accepted.
I own you donk. See you soon cause we know you can’t stay away.
Gaybriel, you mean the future doctors don’t want to play a sport where they constantly get there brains bashed in??? That’s shocking.
Enjoy the fall off. I know I will. Prefer it be the Bama bus off the cliff. I’ll piss on the ashes
You could have a pi$$ing contest VFL. Something else for you Vols to get beat at lol. Sorry man, you just aren’t very good, especially for a self proclaimed “everything school”
Poor ole Vil_88, he is so owned by Bama that he has to spend 100% of his time trolling Bama articles. Can’t even take the time to comment on articles about his fightin pumpkins. Now that is some serious obsession with a team that has caused him so much pain. The temper tantrums start when someone points this out to him. His comments are now the length of a Negan comment. That is how bad he is suffering. Keep em coming Vil_88. Maybe one day you will have time to focus on your team. With a lot of therapy. Oh, don’t forget to shout next time. It is even funnier.
At least they both have major championships (plural) this century.
Vols?