No major conference team in college basketball is playing with more pace and operating with a more modernized offense -- prioritizing, like many an NBA team , 3-pointers and layups as their primary shot diet -- than the Alabama Crimson Tide . But on Thursday night it was ironically an old-school attack from No. 2 Purdue -- a deliberate halfcourt offense with high-level execution, control in the paint and punishing physicality -- that dealt the No. 8 Tide their first defeat of the young season.

The final: Purdue 87, Alabama 80 .

Purdue scored the win as road underdogs and in the process proved it should not have been underdogs in this game -- and, perhaps, should not be underdogs in any game this season -- because of its inside-out star power and quality of depth. Braden Smith

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