THUNDER AND LIGHTNING IN THE GARDEN: THE NIGHT ALABAMA’S BACKCOURT MASTERED THE STORM

By Jason Safford | Relentless Redstorm

Madison Square Garden rumbled long before the first whistle.
Two programs entered with fire in their eyes and expectations on their backs.
Rick Pitino’s Red Storm came to unleash chaos; Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide arrived to choreograph it.

When the thunder rolled and the lightning flashed, the difference was not will.
It was preparation.

The Promise and the Plan

The game lived up to everything it was supposed to be. Tempo, tension, and talent colliding under Broadway light.
St. John’s played beautifully on paper: 49 percent shooting, 18 assists, 40 free-throw attempts.
Their frontcourt, led by Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins, dominated early, forcing Alabama’s bigs into foul trouble and pounding the paint with purpose.

Ejiofor battled for 27 points and 10 rebounds (five offensive).
Hopkins added 19 points and four boards, stretching the defense and keeping the Storm within reach.
Each earned bruises; neither yielded ground.

But Alabama’s staff had spent the week building a blueprint. Precise, patient, merciless.
When the trap came, they split it.
When pressure mounted, they breathed through it.
Their guards did not chase chaos; they controlled it.

“Our backcourt had one turnover,” Oats said afterward.
“We handled everything they threw at us. Preparation wins these games.”

The Guards Who Ruled the Floor

Sophomore Labaron Philon and Junior Aden Holloway were the calm inside the storm.
Philon attacked with surgical rhythm, 25 points on 10-for-17, two from deep.
Holloway mirrored him with 21 points on 9-for-18, closing the first half with a high-arcing jumper that sliced through the Garden noise like a blade through silk.

Their poise was startling.
Against Pitino’s full-court press, Alabama committed only seven turnovers, six of them from the front line.
The guards? One total.
They dribbled through traps as if time slowed for them alone.

Pitino could only shake his head.

“They got in the lane whenever they wanted,” he said.
“We couldn’t turn them over. It’s hard to win when you don’t change the rhythm of the other team.”

The Glass Tells the Truth

Rebounding revealed what the scoreboard would soon confirm.
Alabama edged St. John’s 43-42 overall but grabbed 14 offensive boards, creating the possessions that separate victory from regret.
The Red Storm’s guards, sprinting in press coverage, failed to collapse and box out when the shots went long.

Taylor Bowen became the silent hinge of the game: 17 points, 9 rebounds (four offensive), cleaning what others left behind.
Forward Amari Allen hauled in 10 more, including three that blunted St. John’s late rallies.

“You have to finish possessions,” Pitino said quietly.
“We didn’t. That’s focus, not fatigue.”

Alabama turned those second chances into 19 points.
St. John’s managed 15.
That was the margin. Small, but merciless.

The Mirage of Efficiency

By every statistical measure, the Red Storm played one of their cleanest games of the young season.
They shared the ball.
They defended with energy.
They earned trips to the line.

And still they lost.

Because efficiency without execution is illusion.
They hit 28 of 40 free throws (70 percent). Respectable, but not ruthless.
They allowed 54 points in the paint, the surest sign of a defense bent out of shape.
They looked brilliant in metrics and mortal in moments.

“We looked great statistically,” Pitino admitted.
“But numbers don’t win when you lose the details.”

The Frontcourt’s Final Stand

Even as Alabama’s guards dictated, the Red Storm’s front line refused to vanish.
Ejiofor’s footwork kept the game alive possession after possession.
Hopkins hit mid-range jumpers that softened the Tide’s wall.
Freshman Ian Jackson added 14 points, fearless on drives that reignited the crowd.

Each time Alabama threatened to break away, St. John’s frontcourt dragged them back.
Each roar from the crowd felt like defiance.
But the clock became Alabama’s ally.

Two Coaches, Two Realities

On one sideline, Pitino paced. A conductor whose orchestra had lost tempo.
On the other, Oats watched with the serenity of a man whose script unfolded scene by scene.

“We didn’t get beat by effort,” Pitino said.
“We got beat by execution. They were more prepared and more composed. That’s what great guard play looks like.”

Oats returned the compliment with grace.

“Our staff did an unbelievable job. The players trusted the plan. Against a legend like Coach Pitino, here in the mecca of basketball, that means something.”

The Lesson Inside the Lightning

This was no collapse.
It was an education. Forty minutes that exposed both what St. John’s is and what it must become.
The Red Storm can shoot, share, and scrap.
But until their guards rebound, defend the dribble, and impose rhythm on elite backcourts, the script will read the same.

When March arrives, the Red Storm will remember this night.
They will remember the feel of control slipping away not through weakness, but through detail.
They will remember the lesson: effort thrills, execution endures.

Thunder roared. Lightning struck.
But Alabama’s preparation never blinked.
The Tide didn’t just weather the storm.
They mastered it.

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