🏀 Cooper's 23 Points Propels Alabama Men's Basketball to a 65-53 Victory over Tennessee Tech

[Alabama Men's Basketball]

Senior Rodney Cooper's 23 points helped the Alabama men's basketball team earn the 65-53 victory in a battle with Tennessee Tech on Saturday evening inside Coleman Coliseum. The Tide is now 6-2 on the season, including a perfect 5-0 at home.

From Rolltide.com—Continue reading...

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

TUSCALOOSA — A slow start, an injury and an interior mismatch were overcome by the Alabama men's basketball team.

Decatur Daily—Continue reading...

 

[psychojoe]

One correction on the Decatur Daily article. The game was not a career best for Cooper, who had 27 in our last game against Xavier. Nonetheless it was a big game for him. The gam right after finals week has always been a tough one for us to play well, and I am glad to see us get out with a win. Wichita State, at their house, is next. ESPN2 will carry that one.

 

[Bamabww]

Rodney Cooper scores 23 points in Alabama win

Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist

There is no official diagnosis for the "post-exam blahs," but the symptoms were on full display at Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night. The University of Alabama men's basketball team survived a sluggish start to put away Tennessee Tech 65-53. It was Alabama's lowest total of the season.

The Crimson Tide got a strong scoring effort from senior Rodney Cooper (23 points) and attempted 15 more free throws than the Golden Eagles.

UA also improved its defense in the second half, limiting Tennessee Tech (5-4) to just 17 points and 22 percent shooting.

"I thought it was a great win for our team tonight," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. "Their aggression led them come out and take the lead but our message was just to do what we do for the entire 40 minutes."

The Crimson Tide played as if it had taken a month off in the early going, taking a pounding on the backboards and trailing by as many as 13 points, 25-12, with 8:25 remaining in the first half. Cooper carried the Tide for the remainder of the half and Alabama eventually regained the lead, taking a narrow 37-36 edge at halftime.

"We don't want to come in and lay back," Tennessee Tech coach Steve Payne said. "We're usually good defensively but what we did in the first half was have some good offensive possessions. In the second half, we got tired and got away from that."

Alabama finally took the lead for good on Riley Norris' 3-point shot with 12:45 to play and gradually widened its lead over the final nine minutes.

Payne also said he "wasn't pleased" that his squad shot just 20 free throws compared to Alabama's 35 in the game, but added that "sometimes when you get paid for these games, you come from the OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) and you have a little chip on your shoulder."

Alabama guard Ricky Tarrant played eight minutes in the first half but did not return due to what UA officials said was "an undisclosed injury."

Levi Randolph had 10 points to join Cooper as the only Alabama players in double figures, but even Randolph struggled, scoring nearly eight points below his average and uncharacteristically missing four free throws. Dwan Caldwell led Tennessee Tech with 14 points.

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1715311

 

[TheChief]

One correction on the Decatur Daily article. The game was not a career best for Cooper, who had 27 in our last game against Xavier. Nonetheless it was a big game for him. The gam right after finals week has always been a tough one for us to play well, and I am glad to see us get out with a win. Wichita State, at their house, is next. ESPN2 will carry that one.

Vanderbilt is also just back from finals. They beat Purdue by ten.

PJ, have you watched Arkansas? How did they lose two games already? They look tough.

 

[alabama mike]

The Tide has to win all of its games in CC before conference play begins. Hopefully, CAG and the Tide Cagers can play well enough this season to make the dance in March.

 

[psychojoe]

Vanderbilt is also just back from finals. They beat Purdue by ten.

PJ, have you watched Arkansas? How did they lose two games already? They look tough.

The only time that I saw them they looked really good. Over all the years that I have been watching basketball I have observed that there are more funny results in December than any other month. Exam schedules, plus most teams are still trying to figure out their best lineup or their rotations.

 

[psychojoe]

The Tide has to win all of its games in CC before conference play begins. Hopefully, CAG and the Tide Cagers can play well enough this season to make the dance in March.

We will be big favorites against Stillman, North Florida and Appy State. Obviously UCLA is a big time game at home on the 28th. UCLA is 9-3 at this point with losses to Oklahoma and North Carolina in a tournament in the Bahamas, and a 13 point home loss to Gonzaga. Their non conference wins are pretty humdrum. This is defeinitely one we can win.

 

[alabama mike]

@psychojoe it would be great if we had a little mojo going into conference play. A win over UCLA would look nice in March if we can take care of business in non-conference and the SEC. I think all of us would be happy with improvement.