Amari Allen Scores 24 as No. 18 Alabama Survives Seton Hall's Late Charge 82-76

Alabama walked into Friday night leading the country in made threes. Then the threes mostly stopped falling, Seton Hall refused to go quietly, and the Crimson Tide had to win a different kind of game. Amari Allen made sure they did.

No. 18 Alabama erased a six-point first-half deficit with a 16-0 run to close the half, then survived a late charge from Seton Hall for an 82-76 win in Tuscaloosa. Allen scored 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting, hit 3 of 4 threes and 9 of 12 free throws, handed out five assists and did not commit a turnover in 33 minutes. Aden Holloway added 18 points and went a perfect 8-for-8 at the line, including four free throws in the final 33 seconds that finally put the Pirates away.

Alabama moves to 4-0. Seton Hall arrived 3-0 and a 17.5-point underdog on the CBS Sports line, and it leaves 3-1 after winning the second half 48-44 and getting within three with under a minute to play. Nobody in crimson will confuse this with the 41-point blowout of Oakland four nights earlier.

A Bench Mob Flips the Script

The early minutes looked like the script everyone expected. Brandon Garrison scored the first basket, Allen buried a three off a Drew Fielder feed, and Holloway hit another three off an Allen assist. When Allen made two free throws at the 14:46 mark, Alabama led 14-6.

Then Seton Hall's bench took over. Ilay Dolinski scored on a layup, Trey Parker drilled a three, and Mayar Wol knocked down another to cut the deficit to 15-14. Devin Williams dunked at 8:13 to give the Pirates their first lead at 18-17. Allen answered with a three, but Seton Hall kept coming. Mihailo Petrovic picked Alabama's pocket twice in a span of a few possessions, Dolinski kept finishing at the rim, and a 10-2 burst ended with Dolinski's layup off a Petrovic assist for a 28-22 Seton Hall lead with 5:01 left in the half.

That was the last point Seton Hall scored before the break.

The 16-0 Answer

Alabama's response was the turning point of the night, and it was built mostly on defense and trips to the rim. Holloway made two free throws at 4:15, and Qayden Samuels added two more before stealing the ball from Elijah Fisher on the next Seton Hall trip. Dolinski was whistled for an offensive foul. Jaxon Richardson, the freshman, threw down a dunk off a Fielder pass to tie the game at 28 with 2:18 left.

From there it was the Allen show. Allen blocked a Simeon Wilcher layup, then scored on a layup at the other end to give Alabama a lead it would never give back. Allen converted an and-one at 1:13 and drilled a three with 37 seconds left, eight points in a little more than a minute. Holloway capped the run with a jumper with one second on the clock, and a game that had looked dicey went to the locker room at 38-28.

The numbers on that stretch are stark. Seton Hall went scoreless for the final 5:01 of the half, committing three turnovers and missing every shot it took. Alabama scored 16 straight and never trailed again.

Holding On With Both Hands

Alabama opened the second half like a team ready to end the suspense. Garrison scored the first two baskets, the second after an Allen steal, and London Jemison's three off another Allen assist made it 49-32 with 17:19 left. That 17-point cushion was Alabama's largest lead of the night.

Seton Hall chipped away anyway. Fisher hit a three and a pair of free throws, and a technical foul on Garrison at 15:08 handed Rodney Brown two free throws. Alabama kept the margin in double digits for a while, with Richardson dunking a putback and Cole Cloer slamming one home off a Holloway feed for a 61-48 lead at 10:23. Then the Pirates ran off nine of the next 11 points. Fisher scored off a steal, Dolinski hit a three, and Petrovic's layup at 8:21 made it 63-57.

Holloway steadied things with a three on the next trip. After Brown's three got the Pirates within six again, Holloway made two free throws following a steal, Cloer hit a three off an Allen pass, and Cloer added two more free throws for a 73-60 lead with 5:03 to go. Allen's layup at 3:38 made it 77-64, and Coleman Coliseum exhaled.

It exhaled too early. Fisher and Wilcher each made two free throws. Allen missed two at the line, then Garrison missed two at 1:50 and turned the ball over moments later. Petrovic buried a three at 1:22, Williams blocked an Allen layup, and Parker hit a three off a Del Jones assist with 57 seconds left. Just like that, it was 77-74.

Cloer made one of two free throws, and Holloway did the rest, hitting two at 0:33 and two more at 0:19 around a Williams putback. Parker missed a layup and Brown missed a three in the final seconds. Seton Hall closed on a 12-5 run over the last 3:38, and it still was not enough.

Where the Threes Went

Alabama entered the night making 16.3 threes per game, a number Alabama Athletics listed as the best in Division I. The Tide made seven, on 21 attempts. They shot 43.4 percent overall, 23-of-53, and committed 17 turnovers, five more than Seton Hall. Samuels had four of them in 10 minutes. Fielder went 0-for-4 from the field with three turnovers, and Garrison finished with eight points and seven rebounds but also three turnovers and four fouls.

What saved Alabama was the free throw line. The Tide went 29-of-38 while Seton Hall went 17-of-18, a 12-point edge at the stripe in a six-point game. That is the margin. Alabama also blocked seven shots to Seton Hall's five, and the rebounding battle was close to even at 34-33.

Cloer may have been the most important player not named Allen or Holloway. After a 2-of-7 night against Oakland, Cloer scored 12 points off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting with five rebounds, and the three at 5:53 came at exactly the moment Alabama needed a cushion. Richardson gave the Tide 11 useful minutes with four points, five rebounds and two blocks. Jemison, perfect from the field against Oakland, was limited to three points on two shots and finished with three fouls.

Seton Hall Showed Up

This was not a Seton Hall team taking a guarantee check. The Pirates' bench outscored Alabama's 39-25. Dolinski was terrific with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in 16 minutes, plus five rebounds, a steal and a block. Parker scored 12 on 5-of-10 shooting with two threes and three assists, including the shot that made the final minute interesting. Fisher had 14 points and five rebounds and made 7 of 8 free throws. Williams was a problem around the rim with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

The trouble was the starting backcourt. Roddie Anderson III went 1-of-8 and missed all five of his threes. Wilcher was 2-of-7, and Brown was 2-of-9 off the bench. Petrovic fouled out after a gritty night of three assists and two steals. As a team, Seton Hall shot 37.7 percent and went 7-of-26 from deep. On the road against a ranked SEC team, that is usually a recipe for a blowout. This time it nearly produced an upset, which says a lot about how hard the Pirates competed for 40 minutes under coach Shaheen Holloway, whom Sports Illustrated noted was the unanimous Big East Coach of the Year last season.

What It Means

Alabama is 4-0, and the first four games have all come at home. The early stretch has already produced an Allen triple-double against Arkansas State, Jemison's perfect night against Oakland and a season-opening win over Sam Houston. Friday was the first real test, and the Tide passed it without their best weapon. That is worth something in November. So is the warning: 17 turnovers and a pile of late missed free throws will not survive the better opponents on the schedule.

Next up is Kennesaw State on Tuesday, Nov. 17, before a meeting with Baylor on Nov. 24. Alabama now leads the all-time series with Seton Hall 2-1, and the return game in Newark is set for the 2027-28 season. The full box score (opens in a new tab) is at CBS Sports.

Sources: CBS Sports box score and play-by-play, Alabama Athletics game guide, Sports Illustrated. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Allen has a habit of answering the hard questions, and Friday asked a few. The threes will come back. A team that can win when they do not is the more interesting one to watch.

Photo: Crimson Tide Photos/UA Athletics (file photo).