Crimson Tide suffers worst non-conference loss in 20 years

TUSCALOOSA | There is only one way for the Alabama men’s basketball team to look at the newly started year of 2008. The next 365 days (since it is a leap year) can’t get much worse.

The Crimson Tide absorbed a record-setting beating on its home floor on New Year’s Day, taking an 87-61 thrashing from the Clemson Tigers.

Clemson was nationally ranked (No. 19 in The Associated Press poll) and played that way, but that didn’t entirely explain the Crimson Tide malaise. It was Alabama’s worst home loss since a 33-point defeat by LSU in 2000. It was the worst non-conference loss since a 36-point loss to Pittsburgh in December 1987, and the worst home non-

conference loss in 38 years, going back to a 96-68 loss to Ohio State in what was then Memorial Coliseum during the 1969-70 season.

“First, I’m completely 100 percent embarrassed at the way the team competed in the second half,” Tide head coach Mark Gottfried said. “That hasn’t been the case this year. I think we got frustrated. That was a second-half disaster.

“In the first half, we had a hard time stopping them from scoring, but we were getting some good shots and could easily have been ahead at halftime. But in the second half, we got flustered and that should never happen.”

Alabama collapsed in many areas, although 3-point shooting was one of the most obvious. The Crimson Tide was just 2-of-18 from beyond the arc, missing its last 12 attempts and not making a 3-pointer in the game’s final 30 minutes.

“We had some good shots and I thought we would eventually make some,” Gottfried said. “That wasn’t the story of the game. It was the second-half collapse.”

Richard Hendrix, the Tide’s top scorer, had 14 points and seven rebounds, but was stymied for the most part by the physical Clemson inside game.

“They did a nice job guarding him,” Gottfried said. “When that happens, we’ve still got to step up and make shots.”

Neither Hendrix nor any other Tide players were available for postgame interviews.

“That was my decision,” Gottfried said. “I don’t want anybody talking. We’re going to go to practice (on Wednesday) and get this corrected.”

Alabama started strong and led by as many as five points in the first half, taking a 27-22 lead on a Senario Hillman layup with 7:51 remaining before intermission. But Clemson outscored Alabama 18-8 over the remainder of the half, taking a 40-35 lead at the break.

Clemson scored the first four points of the second half, then dominated over the final 16 minutes. A Richard Hendrix layup pulled Alabama within seven points (46-39) with just under 17 minutes to play, but the Tigers outscored UA 40-17 over the next 15 minutes.

“After a while, the game went downhill,” said Clemson guard K.C.Rivers. “They began to quit around the seven-minute mark which was a big plus for us because we knew we had done our job. We didn’t take the pressure off because we know that sometimes we tend to slack off when we do that.”

“I thought we played outstanding basketball today,” said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. “I thought our guys showed some toughness staying with our stuff.

“In the first half, we gave up some easy baskets from the press. That really bothered us, but after we solved that, I thought we defended them really well.

“In the second half, because we were able to use so many guys, we wore them down. I don’t think it was necessarily what happened right there in the second half. It was a cumulative effect.”

Alonzo Gee led Alabama with 17 points. The loss, which snapped a five-game UA winning streak, dropped the Crimson Tide to 10-4 overall.

Clemson (12-1) had four players in double figures, led by James Mays and Trevor Booker with 18 points each. The Tigers shot 53.6 percent for the game, 58 percent in the second half and out-rebounded Alabama 42-29.

“We ran our offense and that’s what you get,” Booker said. “We didn’t expect to be that wide open, but that’s what they gave us.”

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.