The Alabama men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to No. 14 Minnesota, but lost 89-84 to the Golden Gophers at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Saturday afternoon.
Freshmen phenom Collin Sexton again starred for the Crimson Tide, scoring 40 points in the loss--31 of them in the second half.
But, even crazier, the Alabama team finished with three players on the court after the entire bench was ejected for rushing the floor.
Alabama trailed by as much as 21-1 early in the game, then fell behind 41-29 at halftime. With just over a minute to play in the game, the Tide moved to within three at 83-80.
While Sexton was the highlight of the game, another was most certainly the ejection of the entire Alabama bench during the second half.
Alex Reese, Lawson Shaffer, Donta Hall, Herb Jones, Daniel Giddens and Avery Johnson Jr. were all ejected at the 11:37 mark of the second half for rushing the floor. As a result, the team played with just four players until 7:44 when just three players remained after Dazon Ingram fouled out and John Petty left with an injury.
The loss was the first of the Alabama season, with an upcoming home game against Louisiana Tech next on the schedule on Wednesday.