re: Tide Hoops | 25-12 (13-5)

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Records in SEC play the last four years ...

Alabama: 54-15

Tennessee: 45-21

Kentucky: 42-24

Auburn: 41-26

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I wonder if Kentucky will be favored Saturday? They've lost 5 of their last 9.

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No. 13 Alabama Outlasts No. 24 Florida in Overtime Thriller, 98-93

The Crimson Tide had six players in double figures to extend its winning streak in SEC home games to 16 consecutive

The No. 13/13 Alabama men's basketball team came back from a double-digit second half deficit and defeated No. 24/RV Florida in overtime, 98-93, Wednesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The contest featured eight ties and 16 lead changes in the back-and-forth thriller.

Alabama (19-7, 11-3 SEC) trailed for a majority of the game and went down by as many as 10 points, 72-62, at the 8:40 mark of the second half. However, back-to-back threes from Sam Walters sparked a 15-4 Crimson Tide run to regain the lead 77-76 with 4:25 remaining. After Mark Sears drained a pair of free throws to tie the game and send it to overtime in the final seconds, Aaron Estrada scored six of the Tide's 13 points in the extra period to lift UA to the team's 16th consecutive home conference win.

Grant Nelson led the way for the Crimson Tide with 22 points, eight rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots. He was joined in double figures by Estrada (20), Sears (17), Walters (14), Nick Pringle (13) and Rylan Griffen (10).

Florida (18-8, 8-5) was led by Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"Wow that was a wild game, but we figured out a way to win it. I told our guys, sometimes when you play bad you have to figure out ways to win games and I thought we figured it out. A couple of plays come to mind; Sam (Walters) hit some big threes and it wasn't just the threes he hit though, he got a tip in a big possession late in the game that kept the ball alive for Aaron (Estrada) to go on and get the put back.  Aaron almost had a triple-double and I thought that this was probably Grant's (Nelson) best game. The three in the corner was huge, but the six blocks were bigger.

If you're going to win a championship, these are the games that you have to figure out ways to win, even when you don't play well. After going down 10, we got together in the huddle, like we did at Georgia. We said we're going to figure out a way to win this game and make some big plays. I thought this was maybe (Mark) Sears' best game defensively and it showed with that big steal that he had late in the game. We continued to figure out ways to win this game when we didn't play well.

But for us to outscore them 56-40 in the paint was huge for this game. So, give our guys a lot of credit for figuring out a way to win a game. They (Florida) came in with a great game plan and played well, especially with their guards. Give our guys a ton of credit and Florida a lot of credit. We are going to have to play much better at their place. But we've got two days to lock in on a scouting report and do a much better job on Saturday than we did tonight."

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Mike Rodak@mikerodak·Follow
Alabama forward Mohamed Wague is expected to be suspended for one or multiple games by the SEC for elbowing a Florida player Wednesday night, a source said.

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