Even shorthanded, Alabama basketball stays atop SEC with win at Georgia

Stegeman Coliseum once again proved to be a problematic place for Alabama basketball to play.

Two seasons after the Crimson Tide lost a game it should have won to Georgia on the road and gave the Bulldogs their lone SEC win of the season, Alabama returned to Athens on Wednesday.

In the first half, the Crimson Tide looked destined for another loss in Athens. Alabama couldn't have played much worse before halftime. But the Crimson Tide found a way to climb back, taking over late and escaping Athens with the 85-76 victory to stay atop the SEC.

Alabama managed to pick up the win without Nick Pringle (conduct detrimental to team) and Davin Cosby (illness) on Wednesday. Neither made the trip to Athens.

Here are observations and takeaways from the game between No. 22 Alabama (15-6, 7-1 SEC) and Georgia (14-7, 4-4)

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Georgia obliterates Alabama basketball on the glass in first half

Any handful of stats could have been picked to illustrate how poorly the first half went for the Crimson Tide, but none illustrate it better than rebounds.

Alabama got outmuscled and outworked on the glass from the jump. At the first timeout, the Bulldogs held a 7-0 advantage in rebounds. By the time halftime arrived, Georgia held a ridiculous 27-7 advantage.

What makes that even worse for the Crimson Tide is that the Bulldogs hadn't exactly been thriving in the rebound department this season. Entering the game, Georgia ranked No. 9 in the SEC in offensive rebounding efficiency, per KenPom.

Mix Alabama's inability to get boards with turnovers and struggles to knock down shots, and the Crimson Tide quickly found itself in a hole, having to play catch-up.

Alabama trailed 41-27 at halftime.

Mark Sears, Rylan Griffen, Grant Nelson lead second half resurgence

Alabama saw its rebounding and offense improve in the second half. As a result, the Crimson Tide crawled back into the game.

But Georgia kept shooting well for much of the second half, too. So it kept a lead for a while. Then Alabama found a way to go on a run late in the second half. An 8-0 run to be exact. Mark Sears and Rylan Griffen each played a key part in that.

Each drained triples. Add in a shot Grant Nelson tipped in, and Alabama took its first lead of the game with 4:51 left in regulation.

Then in the final two minutes in a close game, Nelson shrugged aside his season-long struggles from beyond the arc and knocked down 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

After quiet first halves as scorers, Sears, Nelson and Griffen each surpassed double-digit scoring in the second half alone; After halftime, Nelson tallied 14 points, Sears had 19 and Griffen had 10.

What's next?

Alabama will kick off three straight rematches from earlier in SEC play with a game against Mississippi State on Saturday (7:30 p.m., SEC Network) at Coleman Coliseum. Then it will head on the road for two games against Auburn on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN2) and LSU on Saturday, Feb. 10 (11 a.m., ESPN/ESPN2). Then the Crimson Tide will have a week off before it faces Texas A&M on Saturday, Feb. 17 (11 a.m., ESPN/ESPN2).

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball stays atop SEC with win at Georgia