| MBB/WBB Lewis Jr., Davis Step Up to Help Power Alabama in 90-86 Win Over South Carolina
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The same reason he keeps trying to hit that three from atop the arc. Because he just does...
Great win tonight! Lewis was no doubt the player of the game, but Davis was HUGE tonight!
Still pretty slim odds to make dance but this team has shown toughness and fight that IMO has been lacking for several years. Beating a pretty good USCe team that needed this game as much or more than we did without Petty and a 1 handed Jones is nothing short of amazing. I’m just worried K. Lewis is starting to play his way out of a junior season.
I think both he and Jones have played their way into their final seasons in Tuscaloosa. Shackleford, Quinnerly, and a good recruiting class are up next. Fortunately, Davis and Forbes have shown they're up for big-time supporting roles.
Jones comes back for his senior season he needs to work on his shot. Lewis needs to comeback but may be talked into leaving.
Great win by our boys. Started off really ugly, but once again we showed fight and can compete with anyone. I can't recall us getting blown out at all this year, msybe 2-3 games, but it is a testament to coaching.
Kira is probably gone. Petty is probably gone. Herbert and the rest need another year.
I really enjoy this team even with how frustrating it is with us losing games we dominated, I stand corrected on the coaching hire, and our boys are fighters. Roll Tide.
Kira is probably gone. Petty is probably gone. Herbert and the rest need another year.
I really enjoy this team even with how frustrating it is with us losing games we dominated, I stand corrected on the coaching hire, and our boys are fighters. Roll Tide.
Lewis Jr., Davis Step Up to Help Power Alabama in 90-86 Win Over South Carolina - Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Redshirt freshman Javian Davis had a career-best performance while sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. scored a game-high 25 points as the Alabama me...
Davis earned his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Redshirt freshman Javian Davis had a career-best performance while sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. scored a game-high 25 points as the Alabama men's basketball team battled from behind to topple the South Carolina Gamecocks, 90-86, in Coleman Coliseum Saturday night.
Davis collected his first career double-double to lead the Crimson Tide (16-13, 8-8 SEC) as he accounted for 20 points and 10 rebounds in his 31 minutes of action, including knocking down 11-of-15 shots from the foul line. Meanwhile, Lewis collected his 10th game of scoring 20 or more points and his 29th double-figure scoring contest of the season in the victory.
In addition, freshman Jaden Shackelford added 18 points to record his 13th consecutive game of double figures, while junior Herbert Jones finished with 10 points, nine boards and two steals on the night.
South Carolina (17-12, 9-7) was led by Keyshawn Bryant who scored 22 points and collected a game-high 13 rebounds, while A.J. Lawson added 17 points.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"I told our guys during the week and before the game that I thought this game was one that would reveal a lot about our character and I thought it did, especially with the way we started. South Carolina got up 12 in the first five or six minutes of the game. We could have easily folded, especially when we have built in excuses to why we could have lost this, with injuries and whatnot. I thought our guys fought back and fought back and showed a ton of character. That's a big win. You look at a bunch of contributions from different guys. We needed (Alex) Reese to show up big and he comes up with 10 rebounds. Herb (Jones) almost has a double-double again and goes 4-for-6 from the line. We needed him to make two late, and he hit him. He was big. Obviously, Kira has tons of pressure on him every game. If he plays bad, we have no shot to win, but he came through. I thought he handled that pressure in the second half unbelievably well. JD deserves to play well; he's been in the gym a lot. A lot of times guys get in the gym, and they don't necessarily play great, and they quit coming. He had some tough games, and he just kept coming. I thought that free throw was huge to push it to four and it kind of ended the game for them. I'm really proud of all the guys and their efforts. This puts us in a great spot going into the last week of the regular season."
Team Stats
- Alabama has now scored 80 points or better in 16 of its 29 games, just two shy of breaking the school record of 17 set on three separate occasions (1976-77, 1978-79, 1986-87)
- UA shot a season-high 33-of-47 free throws attempts, including going 12-of-15 (.800) over the final 5:16 to seal the win. Prior to that stretch, the Tide was just 21-of-32 (.636) from the foul line
- Alex Reese grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with seven points
- The Crimson Tide won the battle of the boards, 44-39
- The Crimson Tide only led for 13:37 of the game
- The win marked Alabama's 799th SEC victory in school history and now just needs one more win to join Kentucky as the only conference team to earn 800 wins on the court
- South Carolina stormed out of the gate and grabbed an 11-1 lead with 15:56 on the clock
- With the Gamecocks leading 20-8, Alabama used a 6-0 spurt to trim the South Carolina lead to 20-14 with 11:45 to go in the half
- A Shackelford three tied the game at 28-28 with 7:21 to go until halftime
- Back-to-back triples from Kira Lewis brought the score to 38-37 in favor of South Carolina with 3:13 left in the first
- South Carolina would lead by a slim margin at the half, 43-41
- Lewis led Alabama with 15 first half points, while Davis added 11 and Shackelford tossed in 10
- At the first media timeout of the second half, the Gamecocks held on to a 52-50 lead with 15:59 remaining
- A three-pointer by Reese with 13:43 on the clock gave the Tide a 58-56 edge
- A tough layup by Shackelford gave Alabama its largest lead of the night at the time, a 72-67 advantage with 7:27 to play
- With 3:49 remaining, the Crimson Tide owned an 80-73 advantage on the scoreboard
- With just 2:26 to go, the Gamecocks converted a three-point play to trim the Tide's lead to 82-80
- Beetle Bolden made two free throws to extend Alabama's lead to 88-84 with 25.3 seconds remaining
- From there, the Tide secured the four-point win
The Tide will return to action on Tuesday, March 3rd as it faces Vanderbilt for the home finale. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 pm and will be available on SEC Network.
