5:50 PM ET
ESPN News Services
HOUSTON -- No. 8 Alabama could person called it a time erstwhile it was trailing by treble figures aboriginal successful the 2nd half.
The Crimson Tide didn't, and earned different marquee triumph this season.
Alabama rallied from a 15-point second-half shortage to stun No. 1 Houston 71-65 connected Saturday, becoming conscionable the 4th squad to bushed 2 antithetic AP No. 1s successful the aforesaid season.
Noah Clowney had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Bradley added 12 points and Mark Sears scored 11 points, including 9 successful the 2nd fractional for the Crimson Tide (8-1). Alabama changeable 50% from the tract successful the 2nd fractional and 41% for the game. The Tide went 20-of-32 connected escaped throws, including 15-of-21 successful the 2nd half.
"This is 1 of those quality wins that shows that our guys are going to support warring nary substance what the people is," Alabama manager Nate Oats said. "We could person easy fixed up down 15. The commencement of the 2nd fractional wasn't great. We made immoderate changes with the seat guys. Hung successful there, kept clawing distant astatine the lead, yet capable to instrumentality the pb and past we pulled distant from them.''
The Crimson Tide bushed North Carolina 103-101 successful 4 overtimes connected Nov. 27.
"Huge programme win," Oats said. "Not definite however galore teams get the accidental to play 2 No. 1 teams successful nonconference, fto unsocial bushed them, but I deliberation that shows wherever we've gotten this programme to that we tin play with anyone successful the state astatine this point.''
Jamal Shead had 19 points and six rebounds, and Tramon Mark scored 10 points earlier fouling retired with 8:10 remaining for Houston (9-1).
"That's the No. 8 squad successful the nation,'' Houston manager Kelvin Sampson said. "No shame losing to a really, truly bully Alabama team. Disappointing obviously. We haven't mislaid a batch successful this building.''
The Cougars changeable 39% from the field, including going 1-of-8 to extremity the game. Houston was 3-of-13 connected 3-pointers and 12-of-22 from the escaped propulsion line.
"We conscionable couldn't guard,'' Shead said. "We didn't basal successful beforehand of the shot for similar 4 oregon 5 consecutive possessions and that's however they got backmost into it. And we conscionable weren't pugnacious capable to decorativeness it out.''
The crippled was tied astatine 63 pursuing a Marcus Sasser escaped propulsion with 2 minutes left. Then Clowney enactment the Tide up by 2 with a layup with 1:12 remaining, Shead missed a jumper with 48 seconds near and Brandon Miller made 2 escaped throws 5 seconds aboriginal to propulsion the pb to four.
After Reggie Chaney missed 2 escaped throws, Miller made 2 much escaped throws to springiness Alabama a 69-63 pb with 27 seconds remaining.
Trailing 57-49 with 8½ minutes remaining, the Tide went connected an 11-3 tally to chopped the pb to 61-60 connected a layup by Clowney with 5 minutes to go.
Houston went connected an 18-2 tally to extremity the archetypal fractional and commencement the 2nd half, taking a 44-29 pb with 17:13 remaining connected a bargain and layup by Jarace Walker, but Alabama responded with a 15-5 spurt to chopped the pb to 5 connected a 3-pointer by Sears with 11 minutes left.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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