🏀 🏆 Alabama Wins the SEC Tournament, 80-79 over LSU

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

It'll be Bama vs. LSU (Part III) for the nets. Hope Bama brings the brooms and the scissors...

 

[mando]

It'll be Bama vs. LSU (Part III) for the nets. Hope Bama brings the brooms and the scissors...

Did not get to see the Arky/LSU game. Was hoping for Arky. We had some payback we owed them. Anyway lets get after LSU like we have the two prior games. Roll Tide!!!!

 

[TerryP]

Superb guard play leads 3-seed LSU past 2-seed Hogs - Southeastern Conference

LSU's Cameron Thomas and Ja'Vonte Smart combine for 40 points to close out a tight 78-71 victory over Arkansas, advancing to the SEC Tournament championship.

www.secsports.com

 

[UA Press Release]

Alabama Advances to SEC Tournament Championship with Second Half Comeback Against Tennessee, 73-68 - Alabama Athletics

Alabama Athletics

rolltide.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 6/5 Alabama men’s basketball team came back from a 15-point second half deficit and pulled out a narrow 73-68 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee in the 2021 SEC Tournament semifinal inside Bridgestone Arena Saturday. The win propels the Crimson Tide into the SEC Championship game for the first time since 2002 and will be in search of its first SEC tournament title in 30 years (1991).

Trailing a majority of the contest, Alabama gutted out the win by getting big stops and making clutch shots down the stretch to improve to 23-6 overall this season – the most wins since going 23-12 in 2012. Trailing by 15 points, 48-33 with 16:56 left to play, UA went on a 14-0 run over the next 4:51 to cut the deficit to one point with just over 12 minutes remaining.

With the game tied at 61-61 with 4:02 left, guard Keon Ellis capped a 9-2 Alabama run by knocking down a three-pointer to give the Tide the lead for good.

Herbert Jones tied his career-high scoring total with 21 points and collected his fourth double-double as he pulled down a season-best 13 rebounds. Jahvon Quinerly came off the bench to score 19 points which helped the Tide own a big 31-8 advantage in points by the bench.





Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

“I thought Tennessee really came ready to play. Without (John) Fulkerson, I thought they had a great plan. They came out and played a lot better than us in the first half, shoot, even at the beginning of the second half. I think we got down 15, if that's correct, before we went on the 14-0 run. A lot of respect, a lot of credit goes to Tennessee, how they came out and played. I think for us, it was one of those gut-check wins where the guys expect to win. I think it's one of those deals where our guys have changed their attitude. They expect to win. We ended up outrebounding them after we were down eight at one point on the glass. Our defense picked up significantly in the second half. We had multiple guys step up, make big plays. Obviously, Herb and JQ with the scoring. You look at a guy like Keon Ellis, with the defense he did on Keon Johnson the second half. I thought it was a combination of a lot of guys stepping up, making big plays. We have to play a lot better on the offensive side. We've got to play a lot better in the first half tomorrow (SEC Championship) or we're going to be in serious trouble. We made it to the championship game, now we got to get it together again. We had some pretty good players that struggled today that I think hopefully will get themselves ready to go tomorrow.”



Team Stats

• Alabama improved to 6-3 in games decided by six or fewer points (two possessions)
• The Crimson Tide outrebounded the Volunteers, 42-37, and is now 15-0 this season when outrebounding the opposition
• Alabama advances to the SEC’s title game for the first time since 2002 and is looking for its first SEC Tournament championship in 30 years (1991), which would be the seventh overall in program history
• Jones his team-leading fourth double-double of the season with his career-high tying 21 points and season-best 13 rebounds to go along with team highs of four assists and three steals in 35 minutes of action
• Alabama, which entered the game as the No. 1-ranked team in terms of defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com, forced 19 turnovers and had 10 steals in the contest

First Half

• Alabama scored the first bucket of the game, but Tennessee went on a 9-0 run to take the early lead at the first media timeout
• With the Volunteers leading 13-4, the Tide used a 5-0 spurt to shrink the lead to 13-9 at the 14:28 mark
• Tennessee built its lead back up to 20-12 before Alabama responded with a 9-3 run to cut the Volunteer lead to 23-21 with 8:36 left to play
• However, Tennessee used a 13-3 run over the next 4:23 to take its largest of the half at 36-24 with 4:23 left in the opening stanza
• Alabama came right back with a 7-0 run of its own to cut the lead to 36-31, but the Volunteers scored the last four points of the first half to take a 40-31 lead into the locker room

Second Half

• Tennessee pushed the lead up to 15 before the Tide stormed back with a 14-0 run from 16:42 to 12:05 to shrink the Volunteers lead to 48-47
• The Volunteers built the lead back up to 57-51 lead with 8:47 remaining, but Alabama used a 9-2 run over the next 4:45, capped by Ellis’ three-pointer to take a 64-61 lead with 4:02 left to play
• Tennessee hit a three-pointer to cut the Tide lead to 69-68 with 43 seconds to go, but the Tide would knock down 4-of-4 free throws inside the final minute hold on for the win
• Jones led Alabama’s come-from-behind charge with 15 points and seven rebounds in the second half

Next Up

• Alabama will square off against LSU in the 2021 SEC Tournament Championship game, which will be held at noon on Sunday and televised on ESPN
• The Crimson Tide swept the season series, taking a 105-75 victory in Baton Rouge, La., on Jan. 19 followed by a 78-60 win in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 3

 

[TerryP]

KenPom has Bama, 82-78 with a 65% chance to win.

In the last two games Alabama's bench has outscored MSU and UT 65 (combined for 13.) LSU hasn't been playing defense all season and considering how much time their starters have played I don't see them keeping up tomorrow. That has to be a tired ball team.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Hit a six team parlay yesterday for $1,600. Would have been more had Kansas played and won. Not that anyone cares, but I was happy. Would have been seven @TerryP , but I took the Florida/Tennessee over off at the last second for some reason. Was taking your comment about it being low, but took it off!

Speaking of, y’all seen this?

 

[BamaFan334]

Speaking of, y’all seen this?

Saw that on Instagram. Just nuts. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but definitely appears it was.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I could see waging a 10spot on something likre that....
But 604$....
Ummmmmm

 

[TerryP]

I could see waging a 10spot on something likre that....
But 604$....
Ummmmmm

Depending on the person, that could be as little over a half of a unit.

If case you didn't know a unit is defined as 1% of your total bankroll you're planning on wagering. In football season I normally wager four and have done the same on a few basketball games this season.

 

[mando]

This game might be the first and only time you see the other SEC fanbases rooting for Bama. I imagine most see Wade as the corrupt and dishonest coach that he is.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Alabama has proven they can beat LSU regardless, but the Tigers do have a ton of talent. If they come out shooting hot like they did yesterday, and Bama comes out cold... well.... But, their guys have been on the court a lot in the past 2 days while Oats was able to keep the minutes more spread out. I wouldn't want to be taking the court against this Bama team at noon with heavy legs...

Playing minutes the last 2 days by player:

Alabama
H. Jones- 17, 35= 52
J. Petty- 19, 36= 55
J. Shackelford- 18, 25= 43
J. Bruner- 13, 10= 23
K. Ellis- 20, 27= 47
J. Quinerly- 22, 31= 53
A. Reese- 10, 16= 26
J. Rojas- 14, 9= 23
D. Miles- 16, 0= 16
J. Gary- 14, 11= 25


LSU
T. Watford- 38, 38= 76
D. Days- 33, 28= 61
C. Thomas- 39, 40= 79
J. Smart- 35, 40= 75
A. Hyatt- 15, 6= 21
E. Gaines- 26, 21= 47


LSU's top 4 guys have played considerable more minutes and has had less rest between games. Then again, LSU runs up and down the court at their leisure, so they may be fine. Bottom line, I don't see LSU having much left in the tank after a half of play today (but I also didn't think they'd beat Arkansas yesterday).

 

[It Takes Eleven]

With a win today, what seed are we?

With a loss, what seed are we?

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

With a win today, what seed are we?

With a loss, what seed are we?

I figure Bama will likely be the highest 2 seed (5) with a win. Same with a loss maybe, but IMO, no lower than 6 overall. But I also admittedly don't really follow the bracket guys much.

 

[TerryP]

With a win today, what seed are we?

With a loss, what seed are we?

It's the two line regardless of what happens today. 98% of the projections have the Tide as a #2 seed; those are betting odds.

 

[TerryP]

How chirpy is it going to get today? You want a gauge to follow? Watch Reese and Petty; two of the more vocal talkers on this squad.

 

[TerryP]

I don't know who it was on Houston's show this morning (100.9 in Tuscaloosa) but his reasoning was baffling.

He said he likes LSU to cover today. He went on with his explanation that ran along the lines of ...

I don't want to go with the "it's hard to beat the same team three times in a season" but if you go back 25 years you see the favorite covering the vast majority of the time.

But he's taking LSU? 25 years worth a data pointing to how much it favors a team like Bama but no. He's not going with the analytics.

His other advice was somewhat sound, depending. It was his contention if you didn't know which way to play go to your book and listen to what people are saying, then bet the opposite. While I like fading the public on close lines in football, I certainly wouldn't base my wager on what I overheard walking to the window.

 

[#80]

Already a scrum at mid-court in Nashville.

 

[TerryP]

How chirpy is it going to get today? You want a gauge to follow? Watch Reese and Petty; two of the more vocal talkers on this squad.

I said this a half of an hour ago. And here we go.

 

[#80]

Buckle up ..... Roll Tide!!