Cody Goggin

In a matchup of top 25 hoops teams, Alabama found themselves in a precarious situation today. With about 13:40 left on the clock in the second half and Alabama just trimming the lead to seven, the whole Alabama bench got into it with some of the Gophers. This prompted the entire Alabama bench to be ejected, leaving Bama with just five players remaining. See the scuffle for yourself:

Hard telling what the issue actually was, but the Crimson Tide bench left their team in a bad situation. Dazon Ingram fouled out just a few minutes later, leaving Bama with just four guys on the court. With 10:41 to go, freshman guard John Petty suffered a sprained ankle and the only players left eligible for Alabama were Galin Smith, Riley Norris, and star freshman Collin Sexton. This provided some weird visuals for sure.

You would think that this would be the end of Alabama in any game, especially against a top 15 team, but that was not so. After trailing 70-56 with ten minutes left in the game, Collin Sexton proceeded to go crazy and eventually put up 40 points as he brought the Crimson Tide to within three points with less than 90 seconds remaining. It was not enough, however, as Alabama fell to Minnesota by a score of 89-84.

This is not a situation any team could ever prepare for, but I would say that Collin Sexton proved more than anyone else in college basketball today. He is the real deal and can lead a team, even if there are only two other players with him. Hopefully the tournament committee doesn’t end up docking Alabama for this loss come tournament time because these circumstances were one in a million.