No. 2 Alabama explodes on offense, pounds Texas 103-80 as fans make early exit

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Chants of “Let’s go, Bama!” rang out at Moody Center with about three minutes left Tuesday as fans walked single file out of the arena with their heads down.

The No. 2 Crimson Tide shot nearly 60% from 3-point range and scored 13 points over their season average in a 103-80 win over Texas in Southeastern Conference men’s basketball action.

Alabama drilled 17 of 29 3-point tries, making seven more than they’ve averaged per game this season, behind a balanced scoring attack with five players scoring in double figures. Sophomore guard Jarin Stevenson came into the game shooting 24% from 3-point range, but he must love the sight lines in Austin. He led the Crimson Tide with a career-high 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting including 4-for-5 on 3-pointers.

Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats said Stevenson’s big night wasn’t surprising to him.

“He’s stepped up in big games before. We know he can really shoot it,” Oats said. “He just hasn’t shot it this well in a game this year. He’s been playing really physical and aggressive and has been locked into the right stuff.”

Aden Holloway and Mark Sears each scored 18 while Labaron Philon chipped in 15. Mouhamed Dioubate scored 13 points on a perfect shooting night from the field and the foul line going a combined 6-for-6 including 3-for-3 from 3-point range. He came into the game shooting 25% from long distance.

It’s the fifth time in SEC play that Alabama has scored more than 100 points. Longhorns head coach Rodney Terry said early foul trouble forced his team to “play a little differently.”

“Give Alabama a lot of credit. They made shots,” Terry said. “They didn’t do anything we weren’t prepared for. You have this game for one night and you have to move on to the next one.”

For Texas, freshman Tre Johnson led all scorers with 24 points on 9 of 17 shooting and Jayson Kent scored a season-high 19 on 6 of 9 shooting. Julian Larry chipped in 10 points. The Longhorns were shorthanded going into the game without Chendall Weaver and Devon Pryor due to injuries, and Arthur Kaluma played 11 minutes and left with a left knee injury in the first half.

Kent played a season-high 24 minutes in place of Kaluma and his minutes might increase if Kaluma’s knee keeps acting up. Terry said Kent “played with a good motor.”

“He came in and competed at a very high level,” Terry said. “He was a really good flow guy for us and played very confident.”

Johnson scored 10 of Texas’ first 12 points as the Longhorns raced out of the gate, but then Alabama went back to being, quite frankly, themselves. They didn’t play with their typical pace with 67 possessions, but they were incredibly efficient, scoring on 43 of them. Alabama came into the game leading NCAA Division I in scoring at 90 points per game and in pace with 78.3 possessions.

Alabama led 49-31 at halftime and played tough interior defense, making Texas shoot for 6-for-18 on layups. The Crimson Tide outrebounded Texas 41-25 and the Longhorns had more offensive rebounds than defensive 14-11. Even with the extra possessions, Texas could only muster 13 second-chance points.

Texas (15-10, 4-8 SEC) hosts No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday. Alabama (21-3, 10-1) hosts No. 1 Auburn on Saturday.

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