HOUSTON — The eighth-ranked Alabama men’s basketball team could have called it a day while trailing by double figures early in the second half.
The Crimson Tide didn’t, and it paid off when they added another marquee victory to a season that’s just six weeks old.
Alabama rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to stun No. 1 Houston 71-65 on Saturday, the team’s second win against a top-ranked foe.
Noah Clowney had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Bradley added 12 points and Mark Sears scored 11, including nine in the second half for the Tide (8-1). Alabama shot 50% from the field in the second half and 41% for the game, and the visitors were 20-of-32 on free throws, including 15-of-21 in the second half.
“This is one of those character wins that shows that our guys are going to keep fighting no matter what the score is,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We could have easily given up down 15. The start of the second half wasn’t great. We made some changes with the bench guys. Hung in there, kept clawing away at the lead, finally able to take the lead, and then we pulled away from them.”
The Tide beat North Carolina 103-101 in four overtimes on Nov. 27 in Portland, Oregon. According to Alabama’s sports information department, they’re the first to defeat two different No. 1 foes before January since Duke in the 1965-66 season.
“Huge program win,” Oats said. “Not sure how many teams get the chance to play two No. 1 teams in nonconference, let alone beat them, but I think that shows where we’ve gotten this program to that we can play with anyone in the country at this point.”
Jamal Shead had 19 points and six rebounds, and Tramon Mark scored 10 points before fouling out with 8:10 remaining for Houston (9-1).
“That’s the No. 8 team in the nation,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “No shame losing to a really, really good Alabama team. Disappointing obviously. We haven’t lost a lot in this building.”
The Cougars shot 39% from the field, including going 1-of-8 to end the game. Houston was 3-of-13 on 3-pointers and 12-of-22 on free throws.
“We just couldn’t guard,” Shead said. “We didn’t stand in front of the ball for like four or five straight possessions, and that’s how they got back into it. And we just weren’t tough enough to finish it out.”
The game was tied at 63 after a Marcus Sasser free throw with two minutes left. Then Clowney put the Tide up by two with a layup with 1:12 remaining, Shead missed a jumper with 48 seconds left and Brandon Miller made two free throws five seconds later to push the lead to four.
After Reggie Chaney missed two free throws, Miller made two to give Alabama a 69-63 lead with 27 seconds remaining.
Trailing 57-49 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining, the Tide had gone on an 11-3 run to cut it to 61-60 on a layup by Clowney with five minutes left.
Houston used an 18-2 run to end the first half and start the second to take a 44-29 lead with 17:13 remaining on a steal and layup by Jarace Walker, but Alabama responded with a 15-5 spurt to cut the led to five on a 3-pointer by Sears with 11 minutes left.
Alabama outrebounded Houston 44-39 and got 27 points from its bench. The Tide improved to 3-1 this season against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.