Jordan Pope racked up 28 points, including six made 3-pointers and four key free throws in the final seconds as Texas held on for a 92-88 upset of No. 13 Alabama on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference slugfest in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Longhorns (10-6, 1-2 SEC) led by 13 points with 13:04 to play before Alabama rallied to tie the game at 74 on a free throw by Aden Holloway with 5:41 remaining. Texas built its lead to 85-80 when Dailyn Swain scored on a layup with 2:07 left, but that bucket was countered by a layup from Amari Allen with 1:44 to go.
Taylor Bol Bowen canned a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to bring the Crimson Tide to within 86-85. After a miss by Swain and a failed 3-pointer by Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr., Tramon Mark hit a layup with 23 seconds to play. Swain then blocked a Holloway layup attempt and Pope grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He converted both free throws to expand the Texas lead to five points.
After a 3-pointer by Allen with 4.9 seconds left, Pope finished off the game with two more from the charity stripe.
Mark and Swain scored 18 points each for Texas, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Philon’s 21 points led the Crimson Tide (11-5, 1-2 SEC), who lost their second straight outing and had a 23-game winning streak at home over unranked teams snapped. Holloway finished with 18 points, Aiden Sherell scored 13 and Bol Bowen and Allen hit for 11 points each.
Texas took a 16-15 lead after a three-point play by Mark at the 12:59 mark of the first half. Mark followed with a 3-pointer on the Longhorns’ ensuing possession to stoke the margin to four points. When Mark produced another three-point play with 10:42 to play in the half, it gave Texas a 27-21 lead.
The Longhorns eventually pushed their advantage to 11 points, at 43-32, when Chendall Weaver grabbed a rebound and drove the length of the court for a contested layup with 4:15 remaining before halftime.
Alabama finished the half on an 11-1 run as four free throws and then a physical drive and layup by Holloway preceded Taylor Bol Bowen’s ringing 3-pointer at the buzzer that brought the Crimson Tide to within 46-45 at the break.
Mark tallied 16 points to pace all scorers before halftime while Holloway’s nine points led Alabama.
