Alabama basketball: Hall provides leadership for stretch run
TUSCALOOSA — Clutching a stress ball meant to help strengthen his surgically-repaired right hand, Donta Hall chuckled at the memory of what he told his teammates before Saturday’s stunning 68-50 upset of then-No. 23 Florida.
With his team trailing the host Gators by 6 at the break, Alabama’s junior center followed his head coach’s usual haltime speech with on of his own, infusing some much-needed energy into both himself and his Crimson Tide teammates following a disappointing 14-turnover first half.
“It really was (supposed) to get us hyped because I felt like our energy was kind of down,” Hall said Monday afternoon. “I knew I had to step up because I was playing kind of down, but I just felt like with me bringing my energy (and) getting the rest of the team involved, it’d help.”
The result was a second-half turnaround that saw Alabama more than double up host Florida 41-17 while shooting 58.1 percent over the final 20 minutes of action, doing most of its damage in and around the basket.
Along with his 14 points and 11 rebounds, Hall’s halftime speech was just the type of leadership and personal responsibility third-year Crimson Tide head coach Avery Johnson spoke about after a disappointing home loss to Missouri last Wednesday.
“The other 0.5 (percent of winning consistently) is getting some veteran leadership from the guys on the team,” Johnson said. “We’ve got some guys on our roster that’s been around in those situations, so we need them to encourage and challenge their teammates and push them to greatness and excellence.”
After being reminded of that before the game, Hall took it upon himself to provide that sort of encouragement just when his teammates needed to hear it most.
“Because of the setup at Florida, Donta preceeded to follow up on what we shared with the team (at halftime) and it was fun to hear,” Johnson said Monday. “He’s one of our captains and that’s something that the really good teams — the teams that are really special — they have lieutenants and generals all along the roster, and not just a bunch of followers.”
In an effort to develop some consistency down the stretch, Alabama (15-8, 6-4 SEC) will need the same sort of on- and off-court leadership from Hall and others when it travels to Mississippi State (17-6, 5-5 SEC) for a 6 p.m. tip tonight at Humphrey Coliseum.
“People pay for consistency, and we haven’t earned anything (yet),” Johnson said. “We have to play like we’re hunters. We have to get out there and play with a passion. We can’t basically slide or glide into the game — this is not the Electric Slide. We’ve got to play ball.”
Perfect on 7 shots, including three dunks, Saturday’s performance was just Hall’s fourth double-double of the season, and the first since a 15-point, 12-rebound effort Dec. 9 at Arizona.
“(Hall’s dunking) really turns up (the energy) a lot, especially because he has really good hands, so if we can find him driving to the lane or in the pocket, he’s really good at finishing,” Avery Johnson Jr. said. “He went 7 for 7 in the last game, so we need to keep finding him the ball, … because he’s really lethal around the basket.”
Today’s game is Alabama’s first opportunity to face a team twice this season, following its 68-62 win Jan. 20 in Tuscaloosa. It was in that game that the Tide nearly let Mississippi State rally from a 19-point halftime deficit.
It’s because of that second half, and the Bulldogs’ 13-1 home record inside of Humphrey Coliseum this season, that Johnson hopes his players bring much the same energy they had in the second half in Gainesville to Starkville.
“I just think the approach (against MSU) is we’ve got to take good care of the ball and we can’t take anything for granted,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we’ll play them like they’re a ranked team and have a healthy sense of respect for them, because they play at a high level at home. This is a different basketball team than when we played them the first time.”
Alabama basketball: Hall provides leadership for stretch run
:doh2:
