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No. 2 Alabama’s nine-game winning streak ended Saturday with a 93-69 loss to Oklahoma in the SEC Big 12 Challenge.
Sooners guard Grant Sherfield lost a season-high 30 points with the win. Jalen Hill added 26 points in 9-of-11 shooting to give Oklahoma its first win over a ranked opponent since March 10, 2022.
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Alabama freshman Brandon Miller was held to 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting. It was his lowest point game since Dec. 20 against Jackson State.
The Crimson Tide has moved up to #2 in the Associated Press’s Top 25 poll this week. It is the highest placing for the program since the 2002-03 season.
Alabama had lost just two games all season prior to Saturday. The 24-point loss is the team’s worst since March 11, 2016.
The Crimson Tide shot just 37.9 percent from the field and 6 of 22 from three-point range against the Sooners. Alabama’s bench outplayed their starters 37-32, with Rylan Griffen dropping 15 points in the loss.
Nothing in the Sooners’ performance indicated that such a performance was to come. They came into Saturday with an 11-9 record and lost by 27 to TCU earlier this week.
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Oklahoma’s 24-point win over No. 2 Alabama is the third-biggest an unranked team has ever won against an AP top-two team.
The AP poll has been around for 75 years.
Grant Sherfield finished at 30, just 2 points from a career high. pic.twitter.com/HVTwswo4OM
Oklahoma has flirted with a breakthrough at times this season. It played well in a 70-69 loss to Texas on December 31 and dropped a 62-60 thriller to Baylor on January 21.
This was the Sooners’ most complete game of the entire season. They shot 57.6 percent from the field, made nine of their 13 three-point attempts and smothered an Alabama offense that came into play ranked 11th in the nation at 83.2 points per game.
The Crimson Tide are still in first place in the SEC with an 8-1 record, but this loss opens the door for Tennessee. The Volunteers are 7-1 in conference play and will be hosting Alabama on Feb. 15.
Alabama will return to the SEC game Tuesday when it hosts Vanderbilt at the Coleman Coliseum. Oklahoma will try to win back-to-back games for the first time since mid-December when it plays Oklahoma State on Wednesday.