Even Red Panda was out of the game on Wednesday night.
Alabama fell apart in the second half with an insensitive last 20 minutes of an 87-71 loss at the sleepy Coleman Coliseum. It never got stronger than the halftime show, when he rode a unicycle, a spinning bowl, a Red Panda stopped in Tuscaloosa, but drop in the grand final heralds the flop of the second half of the home team.
Texas A&M led by 16 several times at the end of the game, while Alabama wasted some momentum from the end of the season to focus on the post-season game.
The team and coaches stayed in the locker room much longer than usual, before the players left 51 minutes after the signal to talk to reporters. Nate Oates described a ceremonial scene after the game in the locker room when he addressed the team.
“They didn’t say anything tonight,” Oates said of his players. “They may have said some things before I went in there. I was hoping they would say something. Nobody wanted to say anything. I think they are ashamed too. I am ashamed. They are ashamed. “
This series of two wins is now over, Crimson Tide (19-11, 9-8) heading to LSU for the regular season finale at 11 a.m. CT Saturday.
Unlike the Red Panda, which managed to redeem himself the last act, Alabama, would not change as fans went out at the start of the final at home.
Texas A&M (19-11, 8-9 SEC) won its third straight victory after being eliminated eight in a row earlier in the conference game. He took advantage of Alabama’s 19 turnovers to overtake Tide by 29-18 in hand points.
Aggies beat Alabama 50-31 after halftime, scoring the first eight break points to set the tone that will continue throughout.
“Our defense was a disaster in the second half,” Oates said.
Alabama won 13 of 15 home games before Wednesday, both against the top 10 teams in Kentucky and Auburn. Texas A&M entered number NET.
Jaden Shackleford led Alabama with 16 points, followed by 14 by Javon Quinnerley and 13 by Keon Ellis.
“We had to be a little tighter,” Shackleford said. “We knew Texas A&M was a tough team, the top three in the country for turning people over. We knew we had to be tougher on that and take care of the ball. “
Texas A&M surpassed Tide 33-24 and finished 13-2 with a second chance point.
Oates mentioned the effort several times – a consistent theme of his third Alabama team – and his disappointment at failing to reach that group.
“The end will come quickly if this is the effort we make,” Oates said in a statement to the locker room. “We are as good as our efforts and it would be really disappointing for some of these guys to end their careers here in Alabama with this type of loss.”
No team was able to split much in the first half with seven draws and eight changes in the lead. Alabama’s biggest lead was 40-34 in a goal by Juvan Gary, a possession after JD Davison’s strike.
Both teams had nine turnovers in the first half and both scored 14 points from these possessions, but were stable with a touch touch when holding the ball. Alabama was 51.7% of the field (15 vs. 29), while A&M made half of its 28 shots. They both finished with 20 points in the first half.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.