Coming off its worst loss of the season against Georgia, host Alabama responded with an 87-78 upset victory over No. 4 Baylor in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday behind 20 points from Jahvon Quinerly.
Alabama (14-7) is now 5-1 against AP Top 15 teams on the season, while Baylor (18-3) saw its three-game winning streak snapped and also lost on the road for the first time this season.
The Crimson Tide had five players in double figures and forced Baylor into 16 turnovers. Alongside Quinerly, Jaden Shackelford scored 19 points and added nine rebounds, Juwan Gary scored 15 points, Keon Ellis had 11 and JD Davison rounded out the group with 14 points.
The story of the day on offense for Baylor was turnovers and inconsistent play, but it did get a big game from Jeremy Sochan to help stay close. Sochan scored a career-high 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting to lead all Baylor players and also led the team with eight rebounds. Adam Flagler and Matthew Mayer joined Sochan in double-digits with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Alabama shot 29 of 49 (59.2 percent) as a team, and consistently took advantage of its opportunities from the free throw line, going 22 of 26 (84.6 percent) from the stripe thanks to 21 Baylor fouls.
Baylor spent the entire second half trying to chase down Alabama’s lead, drawing as close as a 75-71 deficit with four minutes remaining. But Alabama went on another hot shooting stretch to close the game, hitting five of its final six shots from the floor to ice the contest.
Coming into the game, Baylor had not allowed anyone to score 75 points in a game all season, and it was the most points the Bears have allowed in a regulation game since a 98-96 loss at Oklahoma on Jan. 30, 2018.
Alabama scored 24 points off the Baylor turnovers, including nine fastbreak points.
–Field Level Media
