🏀 Men's Basketball Begins SEC Play vs. Texas A&M Tuesday Night

[Alabama Men's Basketball]

Alabama will open Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday night when it hosts the Texas A&M Aggies at 8 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.

From Rolltide.com—Continue reading...

 

[Bamabww]

Alabama opens SEC play against Texas A&M

Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist

The SEC, at least in basketball, may be perceived as Kentucky and the 13 Dwarves, but there are actually several SEC teams that feel like they have a chance to change that conversation - including the two teams playing tonight at Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama and Texas A&M both finished pre-conference play with solid records, neither distinguished by eye-popping wins nor ruined by resume-wrecking losses. Thus, both teams come into tonight's game with optimism, and a keen sense of having work ahead.

"I think our (nonconference) schedule was great preparation for the SEC," Alabama senior and top scorer Levi Randolph said on Monday. "We just want to get better every day, and don't get complacent."

Texas A&M (9-3) brings a two-game winning streak into tonight's game. The Aggies are coming off a 58-48 win over Hartford on Saturday in which they were victorious despite not making a 3-point shot in the game.

"I've had a chance to watch them on film and they are very impressive," said Alabama coach Anthony Grant. "They're a deep team. They are playing 9 guys and are very efficient offensively, long and athletic defensively. It should be a good test.

"Alex Caruso at point guard is having a great year fir them. He's a veteran, and he does a great job of making the game easier for his teammates. They have a couple of transfers who have really stepped up. One of them (SMU transfer Jalen Jones) is leading them in scoring, a 6-7, 230-pound forward who can shoot."

Jones, who averages 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds, is coming off an ankle injury, although aggie coach Billy Kennedy said on Monday's SEC teleconference that Jones "will try to play" in tonight's game.

Grant said Alabama was healthy for tonight's contest and was looking forward to its SEC opener.

"That's the beauty of league play," Grant said. "You want to make sure you have engrained some behaviors and bring your best in conference play."

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1722537

 

[alabama mike]

We just have to win the games we are suppose to win at home and steal a few road wins. Pretty simple? Didnt think so.

 

[Bamabww]

I hope they can get it together at home and with a little luck maybe ......

 

[psychojoe]

The schedule is kind to us, other than playing Kentucky twice. We definitely need to get a few road wins though.

 

[bama alum]

One of tamu's best players is out hurt; their other leading scorer went to the bench with two early fouls. Bama was on cruise control a few minutes ago; now they're only up by four.

 

[doemasters]

Bama wins 65-44

 

[Bamabww]

Tide flips switch to down Aggies in SEC opener

Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist

It was hard to guess what flipped the switch for the University of Alabama basketball team in the final 12 minutes of Tuesday night's win over Texas A&M. Perhaps it was Anthony Grant's anger at a missed call to end the first half. Perhaps it was simply the aggressiveness of Retin Obasohan.

Whatever it was, Alabama should bottle it for use over the rest of the SEC season.

The Crimson Tide blew out Texas A&M, 65-44, to open league play with a win, and cap a perfect 5-0 homestand.

Ricky Tarrant paced UA with 15 points but Obasohan scored 12 points off the bench, including 10 in the decisive second-half stretch.

Playing without leading scorer Jalen Jones, out with an ankle injury, the Aggies struggled to find offensive consistency but used some timely 3-pointers to keep the game close into the second half. Alex Caruso and Peyton Allen hit back-to-back 3-pointers coming out of the first media timeout of the second half, cutting Alabama's lead to 36-33 with 13 minutes to play.

But Obasohan brought energy off the Alabama bench, attacking the rim and sparking a 14-2 UA run that put the Aggies out of reach.

"It's a great way to start SEC play'" Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. "In the first half, we did some things that were not characteristic of what we want to do, but we met the challenge in the second half.

"I thought Retin gave us a lot in the second half. He has been doing that defensively, but he brought something offensively tonight, and as he continues to get healthy, I think he can do more of that."

Alabama had built a lead of as many as 13 points in the first half, but Texas A&M closed the half on a 12-2 run, including a buzzer-beating basket by Alex Robinson to end the half. Replays seemed to show the ball still in Robinson's hand as the clock ran out, but officials awarded the basket, angering Grant to the extent that he came out of the UA locker room at halftime to speak with SEC observer of officials on hand. That heat carried over in the second half as well.

Peyton Allen scored 13 points off the bench to pace Texas A&M (9-4, 0-1 SEC). The Aggies shot just 30.8 percent (16 of 52) in the game.

https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1722920

 

[psychojoe]

We beat a team we were supposed to beat, and beat them soundly. The half court defense was very good.