No. 18 Alabama beats top-ranked North Carolina in quadruple OT

The Alabama Crimson Tide dropped their first game of the season with a 67-82 loss to UConn on Friday night. Nate Oats‘ group didn’t let that loss affect them as Bama bounced back with a win over the top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday.

Fueled by a 24-point performance from junior Mark Sears, the Tide defeated UNC 103-101 in the third-place game of the Phil Knight Invitational. It was a thrilling battle that went to quadruple overtime, the first game in which Bama has gone to extra time this season. This win caps off a trip to Oregon that also saw Alabama beat No. 12 Michigan State on Thanksgiving.

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There’s plenty to react to following this win over the Tar Heels. BamaInsider dishes out our main takeaways from Alabama’s two-point victory on Sunday.

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Main takeaways from Alabama’s win over North Carolina

The storyline of this contest, from an Alabama perspective, is what the team did with Brandon Miller playing arguably his worst game of the season.

Miller came into this contest averaging 20.5 points per game, but was held to just 14 points against North Carolina. The true freshman standout was just 4-of-21 from the field and had three personal fouls in the first half (four total in the game).

With their star limited in production, Alabama got key contributions elsewhere. Mark Sears was 5-of-7 for 14 points — including four three-pointers — in the first half. He finished the game with 24 points (seven three-pointers) and had five assists as well, a strong response after scoring 15 total points in his previous two contests.

Fellow guard Jahvon Quinerly was hot and cold for Bama. Quinerly connected on eight of 26 shots from the field and shot 3-of-11 on his three-point attempts. The senior finished with a season-high 21 points and a team-high eight assists against North Carolina, while also knocking down two key free throws in the third overtime. Quinerly made both his attempts in the game, but Alabama only connected on 13 of 21 attempts from the charity stripe versus UNC.

Veteran Noah Gurley made timely shots in regulation on Sunday. Gurley scored 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while making three of five attempts from beyond the arc. He also collected six rebounds, which was second to Charles Bediako‘s 16 rebounds; Bediako had a double-double as he scored 14 points.

Outside of the individual performances by Alabama, the team’s shooting efficiency kept them afloat offensively. The Crimson Tide shot 16 of 38 (42.1 percent) from beyond the arc. Overall, Alabama shot slightly below their season average of 43.4 percent as they made 41.1 percent of their shots.

Those are not elite percentages, but they are impressive when you consider the amount of minutes that Bama had to play.

A lot of focus will be placed on Miller’s struggles, but what should not be overlooked is the absence of Noah Clowney. The 2022 signee sustained a lower-body contusion early on in the game (did not return), and his rebounding production was missed. Alabama came into this game averaging 49.3 rebounds per game (9.6 from Clowney), but gathered just 58 boards against UNC in 60 minutes of play.

North Carolina’s Armando Bacot had his way in the paint (particularly in the second half) with 20 points. Other than Bacot’s solid performance, Alabama played well on defense for the most part as they held Caleb Love to 13-of-36 shooting from the field. UNC shot 30.4 percent from three against the Crimson Tide.

Next up, Bama will come back home for a game at Coleman Coliseum on Saturday. Alabama will play host to South Dakota State ahead of an important away matchup at Houston on Dec. 10.

Assuming Houston (No. 2) stays undefeated, this sets up another potential matchup for Bama against a top-ranked school.

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