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Alabama basketball loses charity exhibition at Wake Forest

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby:Charlie Potter•10/29/23•

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Alabama guard Aaron Estrada
Aaron Estrada (Courtesy of Alabama Athletics)

The Alabama men’s basketball team dropped a charity exhibition game against Wake Forest, 88-80, Sunday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C. The preseason matchup was not televised.

In its final tuneup before the start of the 2023-24 season, the Crimson Tide led by as many as 19 points and went to the locker room with a 52-39 edge, shooting 8-of-14 from three in the first half, before the Demon Deacons clawed their way back. The home team used a 24-3 run to take a lead it would not relinquish and ballooned to 10 points in two separate instances.

A 7-0 Alabama run cut the Wake lead to 77-75 at the under-four media timeout, but that was as close as it would get to mounting a comeback. The Tide went cold in the second half, shooting 30.3 percent (10-33) from the field and 10 percent (1-10) from three-point range.

“I want to thank Coach (Steve) Forbes in partnering with us for this meaningful event and trying to raise money for a good cause,” said head coach Nate Oats in a release. “In regards to the game, I am disappointed with today’s result and how complacent we got after leading by 19 points towards the end of the first half.

“We have a lot to clean up before next week’s season opener so we will get back in the gym and gear up for Morehead State.”

Alabama was led by transfer guard Aaron Estrada, who scored 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Nick Pringle (13 points), Sam Walters (13) and Grant Nelson (11) also finished with double-digit points. Pringle was the Tide’s leading rebounder with nine boards. Nelson fouled out but could remain in the game – as was the case for two Demon Deacon players. 

Wake Forest was led by Cameron Hildreth and Hunter Sallis, who combined to score 65 of the Deacons’ 88 points. Entering the exhibition with only eight scholarship players available, Wake shot 48.4 percent from the field and scored 29 points off of 18 turnovers by Alabama. 

UA was once again without guards Mark Sears (groin) and Davin Cosby, but injured forwards Mouhamed Dioubate and Mohamed Wague both saw minutes in the preseason contest.

This marks the second consecutive preseason loss for the Tide, which lost to TCU, 85-81, in a secret scrimmage one week ago. Alabama will open the season against Morehead State at home on Monday, Nov. 6. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT and stream on SEC Network+.

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