šŸ€ Men’s Basketball Upsets No. 17 Notre Dame, 74-73

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alabama Men's Basketball
  • Start date Start date
A

Alabama Men's Basketball

*Back to Back wins over Top 25 teams
* Up Next: S. Miss: 12/4 - 7PM CT



ORLANDO, Fla.
– The Alabama men’s basketball team earned its second upset over a top-25 team in three days, taking down No.17 Notre Dame, 74-73, on Sunday night at the AdvoCare Invitational. Senior guard Retin Obasohan finished with a game-high 19 points, and converted a last-second layup to secure the victory.

Alabama (4-2) had not won consecutive games against ranked opponents since they defeated then-No. 12 Florida on Feb. 26, 2006, after downing then-No.8 Tennessee on Feb. 18.

Obasohan and junior Shannon Hale led the Tide with 19 points apiece, while graduate transfer Arthur Edwards finished with a career-high 15 points. Junior forward Michael Kessens led the team with nine rebounds to go along with eight points off the bench. Alabama was forced to play the final minutes without starters Dazon Ingram and Jimmie Taylor, who fouled out, along with key reserve Riley Norris who was injured in the first half and did not return.

Alabama began the game on fire as Edwards’ sparked an 18-3 run over 5:20 of the first half, including a 13-0 stretch. Notre Dame (4-2) went 0-of-5 from the field as the Tide took a 21-8 lead on 3-of-3 shooting from deep.

Notre Dame answered with a 7-0 run of its own to close the gap to just five points, down 25-20 at the 8:51 mark. The Tide started 4-of-4 from three-point range, but then missed four straight attempts from behind the arc. Alabama used a 6-0 run with 6:38 left in the first half to push the score to 35-28. Notre Dame fought back though, and the teams were separated by just four points at halftime with the Tide leading, 43-39.

Edwards provided the offensive spark for the Tide throughout the opening 20 minutes, finishing the half a perfect 6-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-3 from three-point range.

The Irish started hot in the second half, using a 10-2 run to take a 49-45 lead with 17:18 to play. From that point on the teams were never separated by more than three points in a game that featured eight ties and nine lead changes.

Notre Dame held a one-point lead, up 73-72, with 28.6 seconds left in the game when forward Zach Auguste, who finished with 16 points, had a chance to pad the Irish’s lead at the free throw line. However, he missed both free throw attempts and Alabama called a timeout with 23.5 seconds to play.

The Tide couldn’t get anything going out of the timeout, so head coachAvery Johnson called another with 12.6 seconds to play.

Obasohan got the ball out of the timeout, drove the baseline as the clock wound down and put in a layup with eight seconds on the clock to give Alabama a 74-73 lead. Demetrius Jackson rushed the ball down the court and attempted a layup for the Irish at the other end, but the Tide controlled the rebound as the buzzer sounded to give the Tide its second win over a ranked opponent in three days.

Steve Vasturia totaled 18 points for Notre Dame and Jackson joined Auguste with 16. Auguste led the Irish with 10 rebounds.

Alabama is back in action on Friday as it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., on Friday, Dec. 4, to take on Southern Miss. The contest is scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.

From Rolltide.com—Continue reading...
 
Last edited by a moderator:



ā€œI think Coach Johnson has a crystal ball or something like that, because every time he draws up a play, it’s amazing how he can predict where everybody’s going to be,ā€ Obasohan said. ā€œSo I’ve got to give all credit to Coach Johnson and his staff, my teammates for being able to execute the play and get me the ball in the situation where I could make the play that was available. It’s just crazy how Coach Johnson just always makes it happen.ā€
 
Wichita State and Notre Dame are both games that we would have most definitely folded up in the past and cashed it in. These two wins do nothing but boost these guys confidence and belief in their Coach! This bunch may not win the conference, but you can see that they aren't going to be an easy W for anyone!
 
@TerryP @psychojoe I'm with you guys. They may have needed some time to come together. I imagine this trend may continue to get even better. I hesitated to post too much after the sort of dismal start. I really like AJ, and I'd say win or lose at this point.

My wife, who can be quite Zen at times, has listened to me rave about AJ all fall. She said on Friday, "It may take a while." Really understated, you know.
 
This team could definitely get out of OOC play with a 9-4 record with an upset @Clemson. That would have us with wins over ULL (picked to win the sun belt), Wichita State (has struggled mightily this year though. They need to win some more to improve our RPI), Notre Dame, and Clemson. If we keep improving and make some noise in the SEC, it isn't far fetched to say Alabama could make the dance.
 
Wichita State will be fine by the time we need them to be. They are playing without 2 of their key starters due to injury and one not eligible just yet. Once they get Van Vleet back they will take off. Rob Baker cant carry the entire team by himself
 
Shooting will be much improved over the last 6 yrs cause the guys are actually getting open shots now. The offense that Grant ran wasnt very good at getting open shots. As fast as CAJ wants to push we are seeing a metric ton more open shots this year
 
@TerryP @psychojoe I'm with you guys. They may have needed some time to come together. I imagine this trend may continue to get even better. I hesitated to post too much after the sort of dismal start. I really like AJ, and I'd say win or lose at this point.

My wife, who can be quite Zen at times, has listened to me rave about AJ all fall. She said on Friday, "It may take a while." Really understated, you know.
If I can find the interview with the exact quote this morning I'll link it later ... as for now, I'll paraphrase.

Coach Simon made a comment referencing the "youth" on the team recently. (I tend to think it's more about maturity and time together, but let's set that aside.) He said they are going to have some rough outings primarily due to that factor. That makes sense to me.

I expect we'll see a half of a dozen games this year where the FG percentage is going to be bad. The Tide will likely lose most of those games.

BUT, one difference I've seen already is in the mental makeup of this squad. I don't see them falling apart at the end of the game but continuing to play hard. I'd never suggest they "quit" under Grant. I will suggest they didn't have faith in themselves (and the coaching staff) they'd be in position to win.
________

Since CAJ has been here he's done things that I criticized Grant for not even attempting: IE: engaging the fan base, working with other coaches around UA, etc.

The last 20 seconds of the game against ND was the best coaching I've seen from Bama basketball in a long, long time.
 
Back
Top Bottom