The No. 3/3 Alabama men's basketball team continued its winning ways Wednesday night, capturing a 97-69 victory over the Florida Gators in Coleman Coliseum.
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 3/3 Alabama men's basketball team continued its winning ways Wednesday night, capturing a 97-69 victory over the Florida Gators in Coleman Coliseum. With the win, Alabama improved to 11-0 in SEC play for the first time since the 1955-56 Rocket 8 team achieved the feat, and moved to 21-3 on the season which is the program's best start through 24 games since the 1975-76 campaign.
Brandon Miller led Alabama in scoring with 24, marking his ninth career game surpassing the 20-point mark. Miller also led the Tide in rebounds, pulling down nine. Sears combined with Miller to lead the offensive effort, contributing 19 points, with
Jahvon Quinerly adding 11 points off the bench.
Alabama was dominant on both ends of the court in the opening 20 minutes, establishing a 52-23 lead heading into intermission. The Tide shot 56 percent (18-32) from the field in the opening stanza, with the Gators only making 23 percent (7-30).
Colin Castleton led the way for Florida (13-11, 6-5 SEC) with a double-double of 29 points on nine made field goals and 10 boards.
HEAD COACH NATE OATS POSTGAME COMMENTS
"That was the way we wanted to come out. I thought our starters did a great job starting the game. The first half was great. We played a lot more like we're accustomed to playing. (Florida's) a good team too. Look at their last two games, and they've been playing their best basketball right now. They are one of the teams that is going finish the top half of the league. Obviously, (Colin) Castleton had quite a game. We would have liked to have done a better job on him. He's a really good player. I did think we did a good job taking away their threes for the most part. They hit that late one, but in the first half they didn't have one. So, if you're going to double, they do have shooters and they take a decent amount of threes, and we don't want to give up a bunch of threes. That's the way to get upset. Our game plan was not to double them when Charles was in there. We probably needed to double a little more when Charles was in there. But you know, other than our defense on Castleton, I thought our effort tonight was pretty good.
TEAM STATS
- In addition to improving to 11-0, the Tide won its 10th conference game by double figures and owns a scoring margin +22.3
- The Tide's defense has held all 11 league opponents to under 70 points
- The Crimson Tide is 12-0 inside of Coleman Coliseum, with an average margin of victory of +25.9
- UA has now won three straight matchups with the Gators with an average scoring margin of +18.7, UA's longest win streak against Florida since 1988-92
- Brandon Miller led Alabama in scoring for the 13th time this season, while surpassing the 20-point benchmark for the ninth time
- The freshman also led the Tide in rebounding for the 13th time this season
- Charles Bediako swatted four shots on the night, leading UA to seven total blocks which is two shy of its season high (9 against Longwood and South Alabama)
- The Tide shot 49 percent (36-73) from the field and held the Gators to just 34 percent (22-63)
- Alabama made 15-34 (44 percent) from beyond the arc, while Florida made just 4-14 (28 percent)
- UA's bench outscored Florida's 29-12, with Jahvon Quinerly leading the way
FIRST HALF
- The Tide took a commanding 52-23 lead into the break, with a balanced offensive effort that included eight players getting in the scoring box with just Mark Sears (10) reaching double figures
- Alabama came out of the gate hot, opening a 10-2 lead over the first 2:39 of play
- The Tide extended its lead to 22-11 with 11:55 remaining, with Mark Sears and Jaden Bradley both contributing six points in the opening eight minutes
- After Florida cut the lead to single digits, the Crimson Tide used an 12-0 run to take a 29-11 advantage halfway through the first twenty minutes
- The Tide followed up with a 9-0 run over 1:08 of play, extending the total run to 23-4 over 6:46
- Alabama's defense limited Florida to 23 percent (7-30) from the field, while UA shot 56 percent, including 9-17 from beyond the arc
- The Tide made more three-pointers (9) than the Gators made shots from the field (7) in the period
- Alabama's 52 first half points mrks the third time this season the Tide has scored over 50 in the opening stanza (Jan. 14 against LSU), (Nov. 18 against Jacksonville State)
SECOND HALF
- Florida opened up the first 2:55 on an 11-5 run to cut UA's lead to 57-36
- The Gators were able to cut the lead 17, 59-42, with just over 14 minutes left but could not get any closer the remainder of the half
- Alabama responded with a 15-4 run and would go on to take its largest lead of the game, 92-62, with 3:08 remaining
- Brandon Miller posted 15 second-half points to lead UA, while also grabbing a team-high five rebounds in the stanza
- Alabama dished out nine second half assists, led by three from Jahvon Quinerly and a pair from Miller and Jaden Bradley
- The Tide recorded five blocks in the period, with Charles Bediako and Nick Pringle both swatting a pair