HOUSTON — No. 8 Alabama rallied from a 15-point second half deficit to stun the No. 1 Houston Cougars 71-65 on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (8-1) are now the fourth team to defeat two different AP No. 1 teams in the same season. Their first win came on Nov. 27 when they beat North Carolina 103-101 in four overtimes.
Noah Clowney had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Bradley added 12 points and Mark Sears scored 11 points, including nine in the second half for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide were 50% from the field in the second half and 41% for the game. While the Tide shot 20-of-32 on free throws overall, they were 15-of-21 in the second half.
Houston's Jamal Shead had 19 points and six rebounds, and Tramon Mark tallied 10 points before fouling out with 8:10 remaining in the game.
Houston used an 18-2 run to end the first half and start the second half, to grab a 44-29 lead with 17:13 remaining. However Alabama responded with their own 15-5 run to cut the Cougar lead to five after a 3-pointer by Sears with 11 minutes left.
The Cougars (9-1) struggled from the field, shooting 39%, including going 1-of-8 to end the game.
Trailing 57-49 with just over eight minutes remaining, Alabama went on an 11-3 run to cut the deficit to 61-60 after Clowney's layup with five minutes to go.
Marcus Sasser's free throw tied the game up at 63 with two minutes remaining. Then Clowney's layup put the Tide up by two with 1:12 remaining.
Shead's jumper with 48 seconds left was just off the mark and Brandon Miller made two free throws five seconds later to push the Tide's lead to four.
Miller would make two more free throws to push Alabama's lead to 69-63 lead with 27 seconds remaining.
Comments