TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama took down reigning NCAA champions, No. 4/4 Baylor, 87-79, Saturday night in front of a sold out Coleman Coliseum crowd. The Crimson Tide’s win over Baylor (18-3) was its first non-conference loss in the last 36 games, dating back to Nov. 2019.
It marked Alabama’s third victory this season over a team that participated in last year’s NCAA Final Four, having defeated Gonzaga (91-82) and Houston (83-82) earlier in the year. The Crimson Tide (14-7) also improved to 5-1 on the year versus teams ranked among the Associated Press Top 15. It is the first time in program history Alabama has two wins over AP Top-5 non-conference teams in the same season.
Guards Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford led the Tide with 20 and 19 points, respectively, with Shackelford pulling down a team-leading nine rebounds. Quinerly and JD Davison each recorded five assists to lead the Crimson Tide.
Alabama is now 4-2 all-time in Big 12/SEC Challenge contests, including a perfect 4-0 at home in those games.
HEAD COACH NATE OATS POSTGAME COMMENTS
“First of all, this was the first official sell out of the year. That was a huge crowd, it was unbelievable. I thought our defense was a lot better when we needed stops. I told our guys before the game we have got to get back to having fun. This is why we started playing the game of basketball. When you were a kid, this is what you play for.
Those are fun environments, it’s great to coach in an environment like that. I thought Quinerly and JD (Davison) both made big turns since the Georgia game and hopefully we continue to keep them playing like that. I felt like they were back having fun, being themselves, playing hard, aggressive, and I thought they both made big plays during a lot of the game for us. Shackelford ends up winning the blue collar. He was really good on all that stuff. He got steals, he ended up with five assists and only one turnover. I thought we did a good job keeping them off the offensive boards, especially in the first half.
Our defense fell apart there for a little bit there in the second half when they took our 15-point lead down to five. I thought we had the intestinal fortitude, grit to then open it back up and close the game and get the win. So, a lot of credit to our guys, a lot of credit to them for staying in there after we easily could afford it after a tough loss like we had at Georgia. But I think our guys, mind you, we’re back playing the way we need to. Hopefully we use this to build some confidence and keep us moving forward from here.”