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| Furman junior forward Noah Gurley (photo courtesy of Alabama athletics) |
Recap: Alabama 83, Furman 80
Furman has been here before. It was almost exactly a year ago when the Paladins fell in a uniquely similar fashion to the other side of the Iron Bowl rivalry, dropping an 81-78 decision to the 13th-ranked Auburn Tigers down on the plains.
On Wednesday night a 375 days later, the Paladins saw everything unfold in an almost identical fashion. In the 83-80 loss to the un-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, Furman held as much as a 16-point lead (31-16) and led 47-37 at the half only to see the homestanding Alabama Crimson Tide out-score the Paladins 46-33 in the second half to bounce back from this past weekend’s loss to Clemson, with an 83-80 mid-week victory over the Paladins. In the game against Auburn last seson, the Paladins led by as many as 14 points in the contest
With the win, Alabama saw its record improve to 4-2 on the season, while Furman fell for the second time in three outings, to drop to 5-2. It was the second loss in as many seasons for Furman at Coleman Coliseum, as the Crimson Tide moved to 3-0 all-time against the Paladins in the win.
Despite 33 points from Jordan Lyons in the meeting between the two back in November of 2019, the Paladins dropped an 81-73 contest.
Furman sizzled offensively from the field in the opening half of play, as the Paladins knocked down 62% of their shots from the field en route to a 47-37 halftime lead. It was arguably the best offensive performance of the season.
Unlike the game against Cincinnati, the Paladins came out and were the aggressor on both ends of the floor, and came out and took the game to the Crimson Tide from the very outset of the contest. It would end up leading to what Furman would eventually build into a 16-point lead in the opening frame, following a three-pointer from Clay Mounce to give the Paladins a 32-16 lead.
The Paladins would see the Crimson Tide cut the lead under 10 points only once the remainder of the half with 4:09 left on a Herbert Lee Jones three-pointer, which cut the Furman lead to 38-29. However, the Paladins would extend that lead back out to 15 once again, at 47-32, as Mounce canned another three-pointer with 2:15 remaining in the opening frame.
From there, the Crimson Tide carried the momentum into the halftime locker room at Coleman Coliseum, scoring the final five points of the opening frame to trim the Furman lead to 10 at the break.
The second-to-last bucket of the opening half for the Crimson Tide would see an alarming trend start to develop, as Alabama was able to keep the ball alive for three offensive rebounds to eventually convert a layup, which was converted by Juwan Gary.
Following a missed jumper by Mike Bothwell, Gary would then be fouled on a three-pointer by Jaylon Pugh, and Gary knocked down all three foul shots to get Alabama to within 47-37 at the break.
Early in the second half, the Crimson Tide started to chip away at the lead, trimming it to six, at 60-54, with 11:25 remaining in the contest. That Furman lead got even smaller after a pair of Jaden Shackleford free throws with 8:51 remaining, trimming Furman’s lead to just five, at 66-61.
Following a timeout, head coach Bob Richey and staff drew up the perfect elixir, using a screen-the-screener ball action off an inbounds play from the sideline, setting up Mounce for a top of the key three-pointer in which he was fouled in the process. Mounce knocked down the free throw for his 21st point of the night, completing the four-point play. More importantly, it gave the Paladins a little bit of a cushion, extending the Paladin lead back out to nine, at 70-61, with just over eight minutes remaining,.
Following the visible emotion of trying to lead his team, yet playing with four fouls already, Mounce ended up fouling out of the contest on the Crimson Tide’s ensuing offensive possession, as he fouled James Rojas on a reach in, ending his night with 8:12 remaining on the clock.
The atmosphere and the energy level would switch sides from that point forward, as Mounce’s exit seemed to cause the Paladins to deflate a bit, and the bigger, more physical SEC program would seize that opportunity. It would result in a Crimson Tide rolling to a 22-10 run to end the game, which was in stark contrast to being out-scored 10-1 down the stretch by Clemson in its previous outing.
A Shackleford three-pointer with 6:03 left got the Crimson Tide as close as it had been since the score was 9-6 in the opening half, as Alabama trimmed Furman’s lead to 71-68.
Richey and the Furman staff were able to use the luxury of the media timeout to draw up another ball action. This time, senior point guard Alex Hunter, who hadn’t scored all night, knocked down what seemed to be at the time at least, a 74-68 lead, which let Furman fans exhale a bit with 5:32 remaining.
However, the Crimson Tide would score the next five points, and it was Jordan Bruner’s layup with 3:42 remaining would get Alabama even closer, at 74-73, which is as close as the game had been since the score was tied, 2-2, in the early portion of the contest.
Furman’s Garrett Hien was fouled going up for a layup attempt on the other end, and he knocked down three foul shots to give the Paladins a three point lead once again, at 76-73, with 3:28 left in the contest.
Alabama star guard John Petty, who had struggled all game, would end up coming up big for the Crimson Tide when they needed him to the most. A driving layup cut the Furman lead to just a point, at 76-75, and then following a missed three-pointer by Mike Bothwell, Petty was fouled on a layup attempt. He connected on 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game, 76-76, with just under two minutes left.
Following a missed triple on the other end by Hunter, Alabama would take its first lead of the game when James Rojas connected on a three-pointer with 1:18 remaining to give the Crimson Tide the 79-76 lead.
After a timeout and a missed three-pointer from Jalen Slawson, the Crimson Tide increased their lead to to five following a Jalen Slawson missed three-pointer, Alabama got a layup from Jones to increase the Crimson Tide’s lead to 81-76 with 35 seconds left.
Mike Bothwell would trim the Alabama lead to three with a pair of foul shots with 28 seconds remaining, however, the Paladins would never get any closer, dropping a game in the Yellowhammer State by three points for the second-straight season--this time ending up on the wrong end of an 83-80 contest.
The Statistical Breaking Down Of The Loss:
It’s been a mess in 2020 to say the least, however, there was a tinge of finality in the road loss to the Crimson Tide, as it would it will be the last chance--at least in the regular-season--for players like senior forward Clay Mounce or senior guard Alex Hunter to get a chance to take down one of the big boys.
But, the fact is, despite what one might thing of the officiating in Tuesday night’s road loss at Coleman Coliseum, the Paladins were beaten and beaten badly on the boards, and it’s really hard to excuse those stats even with some questionable officiating at times, which Furman has become accustomed to in its last couple of trips on the road to face SEC foes. Below are both team and individual particulars, which are highlighted below.
—Furman was out-rebounded 49-28 in the contest, including getting out-worked 21-5 on the offensive glass. That led to Alabama owning a 24-3 advantage in second-chance points. —The Paladins had three players finish in double figures in the road loss, with Mike Bothwell’s 23 points leading the way on 8-of-19 shooting from the field and 5-for-11 shooting from three-point range. Bothwell has now scored in double figures in 18 of the past 21 games for the Paladins.
—Prior to fouling out of the contest, Clay Mounce continued his strong start to the season, posting 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 4-for-7 from three-point range and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. Mounce added six rebounds and handed out six assists to put in another strong night of work.
—For the second-straight season, Noah Gurley stared down an SEC opponent, and he did so in excellent fashion. The junior forward finished the contest by scoring 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, incliding going 2-for-4 from three-point range. Gurley was also 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. The Fayetteville, GA, native also posted three rebounds , committed turnovers and blocked a shot.
—Alabama was led by four players in double figures Herbert Jones’ double-double, as he scored 18 points and posted 12 rebounds in the win. Jones finished the contest connecting on 7-of-16 shots from the field, including going 2-for-2 from three-point range and was 2 -for-4 from the free throw line.
—The Paladins finished the contest shooting 47.5% (28-of-59) from the field, and 36.5% (13-for-36) from three-point range. Furman connected on 11-of-13 shots from the free throw line to finish the contest 84.6% from the line. Furman shot 62.7% (10-of-30) in the first half of play, going 18-of-29 from the field, including going 8-for-17 from three-point range, which converted to a blistering 47.6 from three-point range.
—Alabama finished the night connecting on 44.8% (30-of-67) from the field in the contest and 32.3% (10-of-31) from three-point range. The Crimson Tide connected on 13-of-25 free throw attempts for the game, which converts to a percentage of 52.0% from the free throw line.
—Alabama finished the game with advantages in total rebounds (49-28), second-chance points (24-3), points in the paint (40-28), bench scoring (34-13), assists (17-16) and offensive rebounds (21-5). Furman held advantages in total field goal percentage (47.5%-44.8%), three-pointers made (13-10), and three-point field goal percentage (36.1%-32.3%).
Furman vs. Power Conference Foes Since 2014-15:
2014-15
at Duke L, 53-94
at TCU L, 69-80
at Minnesota, L, 76-86
• 2015-16
at UConn L, 58-83
at Dayton L, 50-70
• 2016-17
at Georgia L, 78-84
at Michigan L, 62-68
• 2017-18
at Butler L, 65-82
at No. 1 Duke L, 63-92
at No. 20 Tennessee L, 61-66
• 2018-19
at Loyola Chicago (reigning Final Four participant) W, 60-58
at No. 8 Villanova W, 76-68 (OT)
at LSU L, 57-75
• 2019-20
at Alabama L, 73-81
at South Florida L, 55-65
at No. 13 Auburn L, 78-81
• 2020-2021
at Cincinnati L, 73-78
at Alabama, L, 80-83
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