No. 10 Texas A&M men’s basketball lost its first SEC game with a 94-88 loss to No. 5 Alabama on Saturday night at Reed Arena. With less than a minute left, the Aggies cut a 15-point lead over the Crimson Tide to three, but Alabama managed just enough to leave the first-ever top-10 matchup in College Station with a win.

Here are three takeaways from the matchup.

Saturday’s game was not for the faint of heart

The matchup was a tale of polar opposites as A&M, owner of the conference’s second-best defense and second-worst offense, took on Alabama, which had the SEC’s best offense and worst defense. Ultimately, the Crimson Tide’s offense was too much for the Aggies in a slugfest in College Station.

Both teams caused a total of 58 fouls on an evening in which the referees’ whistles were a constant. A&M had no trouble finding its way to the charity stripe, but was unable to capitalize on those opportunities, sinking just 28 of 48 free throw attempts. Alabama, which had the second-lowest free throw rate in the conference at 69.7%, made 27 of 40 shots.

Each team applied pressure on defense, with the Aggies recording nine steals compared to six by the Crimson Tide. Alabama scored 22 points on fast breaks, while A&M scored seven points on such plays. The Aggies forced 15 Crimson Tide turnovers and turned them into 13 points.

With graduate transfer Wade Taylor IV missing his second straight game due to an undisclosed injury, senior G Zhuric Phelps again led the scoring with 24 points and nine rebounds, but made just five of 10 free throw attempts. Junior forward Pharrel Payne scored 23 points on nine balls, including an 11-of-15 performance from the charity team.

Senior guard Hayden Hefner scored 16 points and senior forward Henry Coleman III scored 12 with 11 rebounds, a team-high.

Alabama uses its size to its advantage

The Crimson Tide made excellent use of their trio of 6-11 bigs and outrebounded the Aggies 54-46. It’s only the second time this season that A&M has been swept, the only other occasion being an 81-77 win over Rutgers in Las Vegas on Nov. 30.

Graduate center Clifford Omoruyi pulled down 10 boards in 16 minutes, while graduate forward Grant Nelson grabbed eight rebounds. Alabama didn’t allow many easy shots with nine blocks, including three each from sophomore forwards Jarin Stevenson and Mouhamed Dioubate. It became vulnerable to fouls near the basket, but given the Aggies’ free throw woes, it didn’t do much damage to the Crimson Tide.

A&M blocked 10 shots of its own, including four from the 6-9, 250-pound Payne. The Aggies turned 23 offensive rebounds into 32 second-chance points, while the Crimson Tide collected 16 points off 24 offensive boards.

Obaseki needs to step up

Taylor’s undisclosed injury, which has kept him out of A&M’s last two games, has increased the need for senior guard Manny Obaseki to hit the ground running offensively. The Allen native averaged seven points per game at Alabama and contributed four points in 20 minutes on Saturday.

Obaseki didn’t really get going until the end of the 2023-24 regular season, scoring in double figures in the Aggies’ last nine meetings, averaging 15.9 points. Williams and his staff will have to find a way to get Obaseki going early and take the pressure off players like Phelps and Hefner, who combined for 40 points.

Hefner has been playing some of the best basketball of his career lately, averaging 11.8 points in his last five games.

Twitter: @lukewhite03

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