Alabama Crimson Tide vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Match Player Stats On Dec 04, 2021

Jaden Shackelford canned six 3-pointers and scored 28 points Saturday night to tie his career high as No. 16 Alabama toppled No. 3 Gonzaga 91-82 in Seattle.

Shackelford also added nine rebounds for the Crimson Tide (7-1), while JD Davison added 20 points. Jahvon Quinerly chipped in 17 points and six assists as Alabama connected on 13 of 34 3-pointers.

Drew Timme scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (7-2). Julian Strawther added 13 points, while Chet Holmgren and Anton Watson each tallied 10 points. But Gonzaga again had trouble on the offensive end.

The Bulldogs were held under their scoring average of 86.8 ppg because the Tide defended well, holding them to 44.8 percent shooting from the floor. Those struggles even carried over to the foul line, where they made only 13 of 25.

Gonzaga was able to trim an 18-point deficit down to 76-72 on Watson's put-back with 5:29 remaining. But the Bulldogs missed on three possessions that could have sliced the deficit to one or two points.

Davison responded with eight points in a 10-0 burst that sealed the game for Alabama.

The teams battled on even terms for the half's first nine minutes, swapping the lead repeatedly. When Timme converted a layup at the 11:08 mark, it was a 20-20 game.

Then Alabama took charge behind the 3-point line. It rattled off a 16-5 spurt over a 5:07 span that featured a couple of 3s from Shackelford and another one from Davison. When Charles Bediako dunked Davison's alley-oop feed, the Tide led 36-25 and forced a timeout from Gonzaga coach Mark Few.

That didn't slow Alabama down, however. Beginning with a Davison 3-pointer at the 2:57 mark, it finished the half with a 13-2 burst. Shackelford closed the run and the half in style with his sixth triple of the half with four seconds remaining to make it 51-35 at intermission.

That was the Zags' largest halftime deficit in 12 years, and even though they made a couple of big runs in the second half, they couldn't overcome it.

--Field Level Media