🏀 M. Basketball. Men's Basketball Begins Home Stretch Saturday Night vs. Georgia

[UA Press Release]

Alabama begins a stretch of playing three of its next four games at Coleman Coliseum when the Crimson Tide welcomes the Georgia Bulldogs to Coleman Coliseum. The contest, which will be televised on ESPN2, is set to tip off at 7 p.m. CT.

From RollTide.com—Continue reading...

 

[Bamabww]

February 20, 2015

Another big opportunity for Alabama basketball

Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist

For the second straight Saturday, the University of Alabama basketball team has a chance to pull itself up to the .500 mark in SEC play, a crucial step in making a run at postseason play.

The Crimson Tide faltered at home against Vanderbilt last Saturday, but with a Tuesday night win over Auburn keeping its hopes alive, UA can take another step in tonight's game against Georgia. The Bulldogs are looking to halt a skid of four losses in six games, including consecutive defeats against Auburn and South Carolina in its last two outings.

"We are a team that needs to get better and everyone knows that," Fox told the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday. "You can't paint a picture of how (ticked) off I am. It's not business as usual. We're not playing well."

Injuries have been part of the problem. Sophomore forward Juwan Parker has missed most of the SEC season with an Achilles' tendon injury but the more immediate problem has been the absence of point guard J.J. Frazier, who missed the South Carolina game with concussion symptoms. Frazier's status for tonight's game has not been determined.

At his own Friday press conference, Grant said Alabama had put the emotions of last Tuesday's win over Auburn aside.

"We've moved on," Grant said. "We're getting ready for Georgia. I've been really impressed watching Georgia on film. They're a very talented team, a veteran team. They've got good size, good shooting, really good defensively. You look at their numbers from a scoring and rebounding standpoint, among the best in our league. What's really impressive is their ability to get to the free-throw line. They've taken, I think, almost 100 more free throws than their opponents. They've made more free throws than their opponents have taken. That will be a huge emphasis for us, is to be able to defend them without fouling.

"All five starters on their team are capable,of scoring. Frazier missed one game but we're going to prepare as if he's going to play."
Alabama will continue to be without guard Ricky Tarrant, who will miss a seventh straight game. However, junior Retin Obasohan has stepped up his offensive production in Tarrant's absence.

"It's not about me individually," Obasohan said. "It's always about the team. That's what we always want to do. It's the team first, so the thing is to just come in every day and do what we're asked to do (then) go out there and execute it to the best of our abilities."

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1739131

 

[alabama mike]

Missed free throws down the stretch, turnovers at key times and lulls in offense spell defeat again.

 

[Bamabww]

February 21, 2015

Alabama falls to Georgia in OT

Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist

The University of Alabama provided a full buffet of ways to lose a basketball game on Saturday night.

You can take the 9 of 22 foul shooting in the second half and overtime if you like. Throw in a dollop of the inability to get a shot off in the final 10 seconds in either regulation or overtime. Go all the way back to the beginning with Alabama's lackluster start. Or focus on the Crimson Tide's last chance, when Rodney Cooper tried to head fake with one second remaining on the clock, resulting in a miss that probably would not have counted had it gone in. Add them together and the main course is Alabama's fourth home SEC loss of the season, a 66-65 overtime loss to Georgia.

The defeat dropped the Crimson Tide to 16-11 overall and 6-8 in SEC play.

From the Georgia standpoint, a surprising hero, Cam Forte, hit the game-winning shot, a baseline jumper with 6.4 seconds left in the game. That chance was set up after an Alabama possession in which guard Retin Obasohan shot an airball and Cooper stepped on the baseline with the rebound.

"I thought we defended the play well," Grant said. "Their guy made a tough shot."

Forte's basket over Riley Norris gave Alabama one final chance. Obasohan drove straight to the basket, but his shot was blocked by Yante Maten, giving Alabama a chance to inbounds with exactly one second on the clock.

"We had two options, either free Coop up with a double screen or, if they switched, get it to Jimmy (Taylor) at the rim," Grant said. "They didn't switch. Coop saw a guy running at him. They did a good job defending it."

"We wanted to force them to throw it in away from the goal," Georgia head coach Mark Fox said. "We told them not to foul on a head fake because they didn't have time for a head fake."

Alabama started sluggishly, scoring just 11 points in the first 16 minutes before closing the first half with a 13-4 run to tie the game at 24-24. Georgia pulled ahead by as many as seven points, 48-41, but Alabama regained the lead and had a chance to ice the game at the foul line. However, UA made just three of eight free throws in the final minute, setting the stage for the late dramatics.

Obasohan recorded his first career double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the losing effort. Norris came off the bench to score 14 points.

Alabama will continue the homestand on Tuesday night, hosting South Carolina.

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1739406

 

[psychojoe]

Missed free throws down the stretch, turnovers at key times and lulls in offense spell defeat again.

Plus a couple of rock headed plays at key moments late by players who know better.

Coaching was not the issue in this one, though with the results we got after calling timeouts to set up a play, we would certainly have been at least as well off by just letting them play in the flow of the game.

Props to Norris and Obasahon for strong efforts.

 

[alabama mike]

@psychojoe agree with your observation 100%.