🏀 Alabama Finishes Down the Stretch to Pull Out an 81-78 Victory at South Carolina

[mando]

Can't hit layups any better. 12 of 34 on 3s. 14 of 34 on layups. SMH.

I think some of layup stats are misleading. Those are not wide open layups most are contested. I get your sentiment because it can get frustrating. Jones had a few of those that were blocked. He is just not getting any elevation I assume due to his back injury. Seems like he needs to be sat down for a game or two so he can get healed up.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I think some of layup stats are misleading. Those are not wide open layups most are contested. I get your sentiment because it can get frustrating. Jones had a few of those that were blocked. He is just not getting any elevation I assume due to his back injury. Seems like he needs to be sat down for a game or two so he can get healed up.

It is misleading because they are not all traditional layups, and most are contested (as you stated)... but they still miss way too many overall. They miss a handful a game simply because they don't go strong to the rim, so it rolls off or gets blocked cleanly. Those are the frustrating ones.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Hate to see Jones play hurt but don’t know if they can afford to sit him

 

[BamaFan334]

It is misleading because they are not all traditional layups, and most are contested (as you stated)... but they still miss way too many overall. They miss a handful a game simply because they don't go strong to the rim, so it rolls off or gets blocked cleanly. Those are the frustrating ones.

Reese's second half miss really pissed me off. He made a great move to the basket only to cuff his wrist and attempt a sideways finger roll to the rim instead of going to the glass with it for the given two points. No block was possible as he blew by his guy and was out of reach. Simple things. It teaches the young kids wrong as we had a seven year old that refused to go glass with layups and he caused our team a bunch of misses because of it, and probably a game or two.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Aaron’s reply (in fairness)...



For those that don’t know, Aaron is a big fan of Oats. Just thought the exchange was interesting.

 

[UA Press Release]

No. 11/11 Alabama Finishes Down the Stretch to Pull Out an 81-78 Victory at South Carolina - University of Alabama Athletics

No. 11/11 Alabama Finishes Down the Stretch to Pull Out an 81-78 Victory at South Carolina

rolltide.com

The No. 11/11 Alabama men’s basketball team used late free throws and clutch defense down the stretch to pull out a narrow 81-78 victory at South Carolina on Tuesday night. With the win, the Crimson Tide strengthens its hold on first place in the Southeastern Conference by improving to 16-5 on the season and 11-1 in league play.

Guard John Petty Jr. led Alabama with 20 points, his fourth 20-point game on the year, and a season-high tying eight rebounds on the night. Guard Jahvon Quinerly had 13 points, 10 coming in the second half, while guard Joshua Primo (12) and Jaden Shackelford (10) also reached double digits in the victory. Forward Herbert Jones scored just three points, but also added a team-leading seven assists and two blocks to go along with five boards.

South Carolina (5-8, 3-6) was led by AJ Lawson’s game-high 21 points.

Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

“That was a tough, hard-fought win. (South Carolina head coach) Frank (Martin) has those guys playing hard. They are 5-8, but they’ve had so many pauses with COVID, it’s hard to gauge an exact record. I respect coach Martin and how hard he gets his guys going, I knew it was going to be a battle. It would have been nice to open it up, but it’s not bad to win a close one either. I think we are 3-3 in two possession games, and last year we were 4-11. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on learning how to close. I thought we did some dumb things late in the game, but we did enough to win. (James) Rojas stepped up and went 4-for-4 from the line late in the game, after he missed all three in the previous game. He showed a lot of mental toughness and played hard, he ended up winning the Hard Hat award. Our three seniors, I cannot say enough about those three. I thought Alex Reese played super hard. Wins are hard to come by in the SEC, so it’s great however we’ve got to get them. I think our guys are, learning how to win.”

Team Stats

• Alabama shot just 38 percent (26-of-68) from the field and knocked down 12-of-34 (35.2 percent) threes while South Carolina shot 44 percent (32-of-72) and hit 6-of-25 (24.0 percent) from deep
• Free throws were key down the stretch with the Tide converting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe across the final four minutes
• Alabama finished the contest knocking down 17-of-20 (85 percent) free throws for the game compared to 8-of-14 (57 percent) for the Gamecocks
• The Tide won the rebound battle with 41 rebounds to USC’s 38, including 18 offensive boards compared to 15 for the Gamecocks which resulted in a 19-11 edge in second chance points
• The Alabama reserves once again contributed with 34 points including Quinerly’s 13, while Alex Reese added nine
• Alabama led for 24:35 of the game while USC led for 11:32 in the contest that featured five lead changes and seven ties throughout

First Half

• After each ream recorded a bucket to start the game, South Carolina went on a 9-0 run to go up 11-2 after the first four minutes of the opening stanza
• The Gamecocks managed a quick 5-0 spurt to extend the lead to 16-5 before Alabama responded with a 10-2 spurt to tie the game at 18-18 at the 11:37 mark
• Back-to-back buckets from Jaden Shackelford gave the Tide its first lead of the night at 24-22 with 8:58 remaining in the first half
• The two teams swapped buckets the next few minutes before the Gamecocks went up 31-28 with a quick 5-0 spurt
• Alabama responded with a 10-2 run to takes its largest lead of the game thus far, 38-33 with 1:21 remaining before intermission
• The first half featured six ties and three lead changes with the Tide taking the 39-36 lead into the locker room

Second Half

• Alabama went up 44-40 before the Gamecocks scored five straight to take their only lead of the second half at 45-44 just over two minutes in
• The Tide utilized a quick 6-0 spurt to regain the lead with 16:11 left to go in the second half
• The next few minutes went back-and-forth with Alabama leading 59-53 before the Gamecocks scored six straight and tied the game at 59-59
• The Tide responded with back-to-back buckets to take the lead for good, 63-59 at the 10:37 mark
• Alabama took its largest of the contest, 78-70, with 3:37 remaining eight before USC scored six straight to cut the lead to 78-76 with 1:02 left in the game
• South Carolina held Alabama without a field goal the last 4:20, but the Tide knocked down 5-of-6 key free throws down the stretch to pull out the win

Next Up

The Tide will return home to host the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday afternoon inside Coleman Coliseum. The game is slated for a 2:30 p.m. CT start and can be watched on the SEC Network.

 

[TerryP]

Aaron’s reply (in fairness)...



For those that don’t know, Aaron is a big fan of Oats. Just thought the exchange was interesting.

~Change names, a word here and there, and it's a football discussion about Ole Miss, or Florida, making Erie more than a lake.

~If there ever was demonstrable evidence that there is a Tier system with Alabama fans it's found in games like this one. Honestly, I read comments from people who leave me wondering if they're trolling the crowd or simply have a skewed view of the game of basketball. Some of those who were marveling at the shot charts we talked about recently were emphatic about "if we hit those 8-10ft jumpers they'd defend inside and outside differently." In other words that's a suggestion to change the offensive style of the team, right? It leaves me, well.

 

[TerryP]

Listen to Juwan:

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[BamaFan334]

~Change names, a word here and there, and it's a football discussion about Ole Miss, or Florida, making Erie more than a lake.

~If there ever was demonstrable evidence that there is a Tier system with Alabama fans it's found in games like this one. Honestly, I read comments from people who leave me wondering if they're trolling the crowd or simply have a skewed view of the game of basketball. Some of those who were marveling at the shot charts we talked about recently were emphatic about "if we hit those 8-10ft jumpers they'd defend inside and outside differently." In other words that's a suggestion to change the offensive style of the team, right? It leaves me, well.

I do feel this offensive scheme puts us in a bad place when it comes to offensive rebounds. I'll let you do the math statistically, but with so many threes you can imagine longer rebounds, but if we're playing outside the arch and under the basket, I'm betting we lose a lot of rebounds and second chance points. Our guys are basically leaving a rainbow shaped vacancy from the goal to the three point line. Just an observation, not a point or factual opinion.

I also noticed Primo last night taking a three and as he shot it, he started hopping to his left as if he wasn't concerned with a rebound and getting back on defense or he thought he made it. Then the ball comes right back to him, and had he been following his shot he wouldn't have been out of position and would have had a quick two point floater or layup.

I only say this because this system is hoping to score a lot of points, but understands it will give up a lot unless we capitalize on mistakes. Oats seems ok with those mid-range jumpers. Am I wrong in this line of thinking?

 

[Destiny's Child]

Now I know some of you guys are not normally basketball fans and some have been watching for a long time. SEC basketball wins are difficult and especially on the road with or without covid effects. So a win is a win. It reminds me of Saban going balistic on the reporter after the close Arkansas win. A win is a win.. I would prefer an ugly win to a pretty loss.

Things we need to do to start playing to the level we were

• get healthy! We are beat up especially down low. Bruner, Gary and Reese are all out our beat up.. running out of bodies down there
• stop turning it over as much. we are becoming predictable and it's causing pretty dumb turnovers. we reduce that number by 5 -10 and we are good
• understand how teams are playing us and be prepared to turn it against them. They are running at us on the three point line slide and draw fouls
• change things up a little.. when we have herb, petty, Ellis, Primo and shackelford in the game.. press! that is a nasty quick and long group to get by and we can use that to generate more fast break offense and force the tempo we want

anyway, I know we are not blowing people out now but people have now seen us and they are building a plan to stop us, we are beat up physically some and its always hard to win on the road in SEC basketball. Dont get down on them.. they are winning games they would have lost the last few years.. just winning them ugly

 

[TerryP]

get healthy! We are beat up especially down low. Bruner, Gary and Reese are all out our beat up.. running out of bodies down there

With these guys back...

understand how teams are playing us and be prepared to turn it against them. They are running at us on the three point line slide and draw fouls

...this changes.

 

[mando]

• understand how teams are playing us and be prepared to turn it against them. They are running at us on the three point line slide and draw fouls

This has been one area I have silently been curious about with Oats. With his background how does he respond to this. I do not want to compare him to a barner but it is the only analogy I can think of, when Malzahn came into the league it took a year or so for people to catch on. After that he was average or below average. Hope that is not the case with Oats.

On the game last night and really all year, it has always seemed like they feel they have a mismatch with Jones on the offensive end. It may be so physically when he is healthy however I think he is being ask to stretch his offensive skills handling the basketball. Being injured makes it even more difficult for him.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Thought about it some today... I hope Herb sits on Saturday in the hopes that the rest will help his recovery. Bama shouldn't need him, but you also don't want it to be a UF/LSU situation where Pitts sat out for precaution when he didn't have to, and the team didn't show up when they were supposed to. I think this basketball team has the leadership to keep that from happening, but 2 of those leaders would then be on the bench. Anyway, I'm going to rent a billboard on University so that I can share my thoughts on it with Oats.

 

[TerryP]

Anyway, I'm going to rent a billboard on University so that I can share my thoughts on it with Oats.

Digital, more than one screen.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Digital, more than one screen.

Did you see where the dude that did it was a Villanova fan from NY? That made a feel better. Was relieved that some local Dr. or lawyer hadn’t found a new way to spend his loose change.