Florida’s bigs exposed Alabama’s Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi

In 63 combined minutes, starting guards Mark Sears and Labaron Philon combined for an impressive 49 points, 9 assists, and only one turnover. Sears struggled from deep, going just 2-of-10 from three, but Philon was an efficient 8-of-13 from the floor that included 3-of-4 from three.

Alabama’s guard play was elite and that should have been good enough for the Crimson Tide to beat Florida at home.

But make no mistake about it, this Gators team is elite. When they are clicking, there might not be a better team in the country. They are good enough at guard and Alabama had a ton of problems stopping Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with 22 points and 8 assists and completely controlled the tempo of the game.

But what makes this Gators team different, and what led them to a 99-94 win over Alabama on Saturday, is they have elite bigs. What Wednesday night’s game showed is that the Crimson Tide do not.

Alabama needed Grant Nelson and Clilff Omoruyi to play at a high level. Neither of them did. In fact, Alabama’s best big was probably freshman Aiden Sherrell, who was 4-of-4 from the floor and hit two three pointers on his way to 10 points in 10 minutes of action. Nate Oats could have used him down the stretch but he unfortunately bumped heads with a Florida player and missed the last 10 or so minutes of the game as a result. Alabama was 6 points better than Florida with Sherrell on the court.

Nelson finished the game only -3. Omoruyi was a team-worst -11. Florida’s starting front line of Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu saw little resistance from the Alabama duo:

Nelson/Omouryi: 54 minutes, 21 points (7-of-13), 11 rebounds, 3 stocks (steals + blocks)
Condon/Chinyelu: 50 minutes, 36 points (13-of-22), 21 rebounds, 5 stocks

In four less minutes, Florida’s front line scored 15 more points and grabbed 10 extra rebounds than Nelson and Omoruyi did. The Gators’ starting bigs dominating Alabama’s directly led to the mismatch on the glass. Florida outrebounded Alabama 50-35 on Wednesday night; it was the biggest rebounding differential of the season for a Crimson Tide team that had been an elite rebounding team all season long.

Alabama’s second leading rebounder was Mark Sears with six.

A break for Grant Nelson might be best for him and Alabama basketball

With a double bye wrapped up for the SEC Tournament and a 2-seed likely guaranteed in the NCAA Tournament, Oats might be better suited sitting Nelson on Saturday at Auburn. Alabama’s depth is a bit limited with season-ending injuries to Latrell Wrightsell and Derrion Reid along with the injury that has sidelined Derrion Reid for the majority of SEC play, but Nelson is not playing well right now and a big part of that is he’s just not healthy.

Nelson has been listed on the injury report several times recently. He keeps gutting it out to play, but he doesn’t have his same explosion off the bounce. In the last seven games, Nelson has only scored in double figures twice with his biggest scoring output being 12 points.

Alabama needs the best version of Nelson to have a shot at going on a run in the SEC or NCAA Tournament. Nelson played an integral role in the Crimson Tide’s Final Four run a year ago. He put the team on his back down the stretch against North Carolina in the Sweet 16, finishing with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.

He was terrific in the Final Four loss against UConn, too, holding his own against a lottery pick from the Huskies in Donovan Clingan, scoring 19 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.

Nelson is Alabama’s leading rebounder and shot blocker this season. Against Florida, Nelson corralled only four rebounds in 29 minutes.

Beating Auburn on the road, even with a fully healthy Nelson, is a tall task. Oats should be forward thinking and consider sitting Nelson on Saturday and giving him a week to get right before Alabama opens the SEC Tournament next Friday.