No. 16 Alabama suffered a 98-88 road loss to unranked Georgia, snapping their second-longest SEC winning streak since February 1. The Crimson Tide struggled with turnovers and rebounding, allowing the Bulldogs to build an early lead. Coach Nate Oats called the defeat a wake-up call ahead of the SEC Tournament.
Alabama basketball's final regular-season road game ended in disappointment as the No. 16 Crimson Tide fell 98-88 to Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum. The loss dropped Alabama to 22-8 overall and 12-5 in the SEC, handing the regular-season title to Florida.
Georgia jumped out to a 6-0 lead with back-to-back buckets from Kareem Stagg off offensive rebounds, followed by a 12-0 run that included eight straight points from Kano Catchings. The Bulldogs led 30-20 midway through the first half. Alabama committed nine turnovers in the opening period, which Georgia converted into 19 points, and trailed for most of the game.
Rebounding proved costly, with Georgia outrebounding Alabama 39-29 and securing 25 second-chance points to the Tide's nine. Alabama's first offensive rebound came at the 10:32 mark of the first half via Labaron Philon, who led the team with 26 points. At halftime, Oats told the Crimson Tide Sports Network: "We didn't come ready to play. We've got to get these guys ready to go for the second half. We'd be in a lot better shape if we'd have gotten the stop at the end of the half. We've got to bring a lot more energy."
Catchings erupted for a career-high 32 points, including 20 in the first half on 8-of-13 shooting with seven 3-pointers. A late rally narrowed a 14-point deficit to five, fueled by threes from Aden Holloway, layups and free throws from Aiden Sherrell, and efforts from Latrell Wrightsell Jr. However, a shot-clock malfunction caused a 20-minute delay with seven minutes left, disrupting momentum. Georgia's five blocks limited Alabama to 9-of-17 on layups, while the Bulldogs scored 40 points in the paint.
Postgame, Oats highlighted rebounding as "killing us right now," noting Wrightsell's team-high five boards and four each from Sherrell and Philon. Freshman Amari Allen managed just three rebounds over the last two games. Oats described the loss as a "wake-up call" before the SEC Tournament in Nashville and the regular-season finale against Auburn on March 7.
