Brandon Miller has career day, but Alabama basketball can't stop Gonzaga in loss

BIRMINGHAM ― When Alabama basketball schedules as tough as it does, there are going to be some blemishes.

Saturday was one of those days.

Having won three of its four ranked matchups this season, the No. 4 Crimson Tide didn't do enough to beat No. 15 Gonzaga at Legacy Arena. The Alabama defense struggled mightily as the Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide 100-90.

Here are observations and takeaways from the game between No. 4 Alabama (9-2) and No. 15 Gonzaga (9-3) in the C.M. Newton Classic.

GONZAGA:Alabama AD Greg Byrne vs. Gonzaga's Mark Few in one-on-one basketball? It's happened before

CHARLIE WILSON:'Living the dream': Remembering Alabama basketball manager Charlie Wilson

Brandon Miller dominant in second half

Miller had a fine first half with 10 points, but then he straight-up took over in the second half.

It's like he had access to the sound button at Legacy Arena. Play after play, whatever he did made the crowd erupt. There was the early dunk, then he scored in just about every other way. Triples, drives to the basket. He was willing to do whatever.

He was in a duel with the Gonzaga offense almost solely by himself and played remarkably well. He had 36 points, with 26 of those in the second half. He also grabbed six rebounds.

The defense just couldn't do enough to back him up as he was in essentially a one-on-one battle with Gonzaga's Drew Timme.

Drew Timme leads offensive charge Alabama can't stop

How well a team plays against Timme largely affects how it will play against Gonzaga.

Alabama knew that coming into the game. Alabama coach Nate Oats talked about him multiple times leading up to the contest.

Knowing Timme has to be the focus and actually stopping him are two different things.

Alabama had relative success against Timme in Seattle last year, but Timme had a more productive day in Birmingham. His efforts late in the first half helped Gonzaga take the lead heading into halftime. He had 16 points before the break.

He started heating up again once the second half got rolling on a day when Gonzaga couldn't seem to miss. Charles Bediako tallying his third foul fairly early in the second half didn't help, but he wasn't lights-out against Timme either. He did have some wins against the Gonzaga forward, though.

But Timme was not the only one who had success. Gonzaga shot well for most of the game. The Bulldogs shot 40-for-70, 57% on the day.

In the second half alone, Gonzaga shot 20-for-27, a whopping 74.1% from the field.

Turnovers plague Alabama in first half

Oats had two points of emphasis heading into the Gonzaga game.

Better transition defense and minimizing turnovers.

The latter of the two was a major problem in the first half. In fact, they killed the momentum Alabama had.

The Crimson Tide came out strong. By the first timeout, Alabama had a 16-9 lead, Miller had hit two triples, and Noah Clowney had four rebounds. Meanwhile, Jaden Bradley had seven points and two assists.

By the next timeout at 11:56, Alabama had committed nine turnovers. Those damaged what was otherwise a solid start. The Crimson Tide was shooting 57.1% from the field at that point, but Gonzaga had drawn to within 20-16.

The turnovers continued, though, and the defense began to slip. For a while, Alabama couldn't hang on to the basketball, and the Bulldogs just kept scoring.

By halftime, the Bulldogs had a 47-42 lead with 10 of those points off Alabama's 14 turnovers. Meanwhile, Gonzaga had only three.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball: Brandon Miller has career day, but Gonzaga wins