Alabama plays 3-on-5 after entire bench gets ejected against Minnesota

While Alabama’s football team was busy losing to rival Auburn on Saturday, Alabama’s basketball team was going through turmoil of its own.

The entire Crimson Tide bench was ejected after a fight broke out during their game against Minnesota at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn.

But somehow, some way, the fight wasn’t as bad as it got for Alabama – not even close. Despite having only five players left, Crimson Tide PG Dazon Ingram managed to foul out with 11:37 left in the game. Then, John Petty suffered an apparent foot injury at the 10:41 mark.

All of which left Alabama with just three active players – Collin Sexton, Galin Smith and Riley Norris – who played the final 10:41 for the Crimson.

And they didn’t fare too badly. In fact, Alabama ended up playing better when they were playing 3-on-5 than when they had a whole team. The Crimson Tide managed to outscore the Gophers 30-22 during that span, and the whole scene made for excellent television.

While they made it competitive against all odds, the Crimson Tide did eventually fall short. The trio of Sexton, Smith and Norris managed to cut it to three with 1:39 left in the game before the Gophers pulled away for an 89-84 win.

Sexton finished with 40 points on 12-of-22 shooting, and earned plenty of praise from Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, who said Sexton “could beat a whole team by himself.”

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