Last week’s matchups gave the Alabama Crimson Tide its seventh and eighth SEC conference loses. It also gave the Tide a four game losing streak, along with its 18th consecutive road loss in SEC play. The Tide could have and should have won the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks, but fell 73-75. The Florida game was a different story as the Tide fell behind early and lost 74-83. Let’s take a look at how these two very different games ended and gave us incite to the upcoming SEC conference playoffs.

The Crimson Tide opened up a huge lead against the Gamecocks by using pressure offense and lead by as much as 15 points in the first half. Alonzo Gee put up 11 points and Mikhail Torrance knocked down 12 points for the Tide in the first half. Devan Downey added 9 points to lead the Gamecocks in the first half. JaMychal Green came off the bench, due to his injury and provided some key blocks that gave the Tide a 41-31 half time lead. The second half would be different as Downey and the Gamecocks shut down Torrance and came back from a 10 point deficit to tie the game at 55 all with 10:40 left in the second half. The rest of the game would go back and forth and was tied at 73-73 with 2:13 remaining.

> Check out our selection of Alabama Crimson Tide apparel & merchandise!

The Tide’s poor ball handling and shooting cost them the game as they missed two chances to take the lead and turned the ball over with 36 seconds left. With one second remaining Mike Holmes’s tip in gave the Gamecocks a 75-73 win. Gee finished with 18, Senario Hillman added 17 from the bench and Torrance had 12 points for the Tide. Downey knocked down 18, Dominique Archie had 15, Brandis Raley-Ross finished with 13 from the bench and Holmes added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Gamecocks. The Tide’s 21 turnovers were costly in a game they should have won.

When the Tide entered Stephen C. O’Connell Center they knew it was going to be a tough matchup against the Florida Gators. The Gators jumped on the Tide from the start and never looked back. As the Gators took a 3-0 lead in the opening the Tide never came back. Green did get to start for the Tide and looked great since his injury. Green played for 32 minutes and finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Tide. Other notables for the Tide were Gee with 17 points and Hillman with 15 points. The Gators were led by Nick Calathes who was 4 for 7 from behind the arc and finished with 22 points. Other notables for the Gators were Alex Tyus with 16 points and Erving Walker with 13 points who hit 3 of 7 from beyond the arc. The Gators hit 10 treys while the Tide hit only 4. The Tide did out rebound the Gators 41 to 34, but could not contain Calathes, as the Gators finished in fashion with an 83-74 win. The Tide lost to the Gators for the 8th time in 10 meetings and continued their consecutive SEC road losing streak to 18, a record they would like to end when they play Ole Miss on the February 28th.

Matt Compton
DFN Sports Alabama Correspondent