Riding a four-game winning streak two weeks ago, Alabama head coach Nate Oats felt his team was peaking at the right time. That it’s momentum could ride into March, capture another regular-season conference title and start building toward the postseason. On Tuesday night, however, the Crimson Tide hit another valley.

No. 16 Alabama (20-10, 12-5) suffered its latest blowout road loss in an important Southeastern Conference game. Its 105-87 effort against Florida (21-9, 11-6) dropped UA to 1-3 in its last four, and likely pushed it out of the SEC regular-season title race.

The Tide was atrocious from 3-point range and was no better on the defensive end, allowing at least 80 points in its fifth-straight outing. And with a teetering offense, Oats will go into Saturday’s regular-season finale with more questions than answers.

Here are our takeaways.

3s, please

The score was close for about 15 minutes with Grant Nelson scoring three buckets in a row to cut the Gators lead to two points. Florida ended the half on a 19-12 run as Walter Clayton Jr. (22 points) took advantage of another off night from 3-point range for the Tide.

Alabama went 5 of 23 from range overall after missing its initial nine attempts. A pair of second half makes that kept the margin within double digits, yet the Tide missed its next seven deep tries. Alabama has needed a historic offensive pace to keep up with a lackluster defense all year. But in losing back-to-back games for the first time since December, Alabama is left searching for guards.

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. returned after missing three games with a concussion but played eight minutes, missing his lone 3-point attempt and only checking back in after UA received more bad injury luck. With Florida ahead by 20 points, Rylan Griffen — whom Oats has considered the team’s best perimeter defender — collided with a Florida player. Griffen needed to be helped off the floor and couldn’t put weight on his right leg.

With his status uncertain, Alabama will need even more from Davin Cosby, but more than that, bigs Grant Nelson and Jarin Stevenson need to start hitting shots for UA’s offense click.

Foul trouble limiting Tide again

Speaking of Nelson, the North Dakota State transfer fouled out for the third consecutive game (and sixth overall). He finished with 12 points and six rebounds. But his five turnovers put pressure on Nick Pringle and Mouhamed Dioubate. They were also in foul trouble and freshman Sam Walters earned his five fouls in 16 minutes.

Florida attempted 46 free throws compared to UA’s 26, making up the difference as the sides combined for 88 points in the paint. Mark Sears produced 33 points, including 29 in the second half. But that was the lone bright spot on the night for Alabama. The Gators didn’t make a field goal in the final 4:27 of the game and still crossed the century mark.

Tennessee can clinch league title tomorrow night, but don’t count out South Carolina

With days left in the regular season, the conference title is down to the Volunteers and Gamecocks. Tennessee’s magic number is down to one, meaning it just has to beat USC on Wednesday night or Kentucky over the weekend. If South Carolina can win at home against the Vols and beat Mississippi State with a Tennessee loss, coach Lamont Paris would shock the country with a hard-earned trophy.

Alabama, meanwhile, is no longer in a secure position for its double-bye in the SEC tournament and will likely drop to a five or a six seed in March Madness projections. The Tide end the year at Coleman Coliseum against Arkansas on Saturday.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].