In his return to Tuscaloosa after three years, head coach Ryan Pannone and the Red Wolves men’s basketball team started strong but could not finish in a 101-86 loss against No. 20 Alabama.

Both teams came onto the court missing a key player. On Arkansas State’s side, they lost guard Tameron Ferguson, who scored 20 points against Toledo last week and helped seal their first win, to a face injury during practice that week. Meanwhile, Alabama was still missing guard Aden Holloway, their second leading scorer last season, as he served out his final match on a five-game suspension stemming from an arrest earlier this year.

Despite losing their leading scorer from their home opener, the Red Wolves came out against the Crimson Tide swinging. Guard Layne Taylor opened their scoring with a three-point attempt following a single made free throw from Alabama. From there, A-State put their foot on the gas, jumping out to an eight point lead with 11:47 remaining in the first half.

Fast and efficient passing fueled their offense to open up action at Coleman Coliseum, with all but two baskets being made from an assist during the opening 8:13 of play. Taylor continued to spark the offense as he nailed two more three pointers to contribute nine points to their lead.

Meanwhile, their physicality on the interior kept the Tide at bay, only allowing 11 points off three shots beyond the arc and two free throws in the same time frame. Forward Amadou Doumbia acted as the main deterrent in the paint, recording two blocks against Alabama.

Their advantage would slowly dissolve from that point, with the eight-point lead being their largest of the game. The Crimson Tide immediately went on a 8-0 scoring run to tie the match 19-19 at the 10:04 mark.

Alabama’s work on the offensive glass and defense pushed A-State out of rhythm, grabbing three second chance opportunities and forcing a shot clock violation against the Red Wolves to turn the momentum in their favor. In the first half alone, the Crimson Tide scored 24 of their 51 points on second-chance opportunities.

As the defense tightened up, A-State’s mistakes piled up as the consequences of a fast-paced offense hit the team. Plenty of quick and hard passes slipped through their targets’ fingers and added up to the turnover total while open looks missed the basket as shooters were caught off-guard with the ball. By the end of the period, they turned the ball over 12 times, giving the Tide extra opportunities to score.

Meanwhile, their defense felt the brunt of the downsides of physical play, committing 12 fouls in the first half that led to an easy 12 points on 17 attempts from the charity stripe for the Tide.

Even as their play began to traject downwards, A-State narrowly grasped the lead as both teams began a back-and-forth battle. Taylor continued to spear-head the attack against Alabama’s defense, hitting his fourth three pointer and dishing out two assists to try to keep the Red Wolves afloat.

However, the Crimson Tide hit a stride to retake the lead at 33-32 and from there, A-State would not lead again for the rest of their time in Tuscaloosa. The Red Wolves’ offense cooled down after their final layup of the half with 2:28 remaining while Alabama finally found the net with their three-point accuracy.

Before taking hold of the lead for the rest of the game, the Crimson Tide went 6-26 from beyond the arc. After that point, they went 5-10 to go into halftime, including three makes within the final 1:15 of the period. The Red Wolves found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum, going scoreless for the final 2:28 of period one.

This presented Alabama the opportunity to go on a 21-2 run, going into the second half with a 51-34 advantage.

After halftime, Alabama continued their run from the end of the first period, extending it to 26-2 with two quick buckets before Taylor ended the scoreless drought for A-State with a layup.

From there, the Red Wolves continued to go on small runs to bring the deficit to a point where a comeback felt manageable. For every run though, the Crimson Tide would fight back with consistent scoring as A-State sputtered.

The biggest example of the back-and-forth between runs and consistency in the second half came after four minutes of play. Sparked by seven points from forward Jordan Pyke, A-State went on an 11-0 scoring run to lower the deficit from 23 to 12. However, Alabama responded with a 12-1 run of their own, putting the Red Wolves right back where they started.

Even with the huge disadvantage on the scoreboard and the off-and-on offense, the Red Wolves kept the second half even with the Crimson Tide, having a two point advantage in the final period’s scoring. While Taylor settled down into more of a playmaker role, guard Chaz Watson led the offensive effort, putting up all of his 15 points in the period.

Part of their success came from their work on the glass, improving their efforts to take a 12-5 advantage on offensive rebounds in the second half. Still, they only converted on their opportunities with 12 second chance points, often rushing their shots as soon as they grabbed the ball.

However, the 21-2 run from Alabama to end the first half crippled A-State for the rest of the game, rendering whatever improvements they made at the break useless.

Another factor into their failed comeback came from the free throw line. Out of their 16  trips to the foul line, the Red Wolves only made seven of their shots and left nine points off the board from their misses. This further added to a pattern of shoddy free throw work that started in their first game of the year against Toledo where they shot 10-23 from the charity stripe.

In the end, A-State only cut the halftime deficit from 17 to 15 at the final buzzer, losing the game 101-86.

While Taylor led the Red Wolves with a game-high 20 points and a team-high six assists, Alabama guard Amari Allen made an all-around impact on the final score with the program’s fifth triple double.

After the tough loss to the Crimson Tide, the Red Wolves look to learn from the first half collapse in their weekend match at home against the Dillard University Bleu Devils on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.

Categories: Sports