Monday, March 20, 2023
Alabama Football Daily News & Updates
  • Alabama Football
  • Recruiting
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
  • Alabama Football
  • Recruiting
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Alabama Football Daily News & Updates
No Result
View All Result
Home Alabama Football

Alabama Basketball is Learning from Both its Successes and Shortcomings

BAMA Football Today by BAMA Football Today
November 29, 2022
in Alabama Football
0 0
0
Alabama Basketball is Learning from Both its Successes and Shortcomings
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter



fimq931viaeigcg

At the midway point of the Phil Knight Invitational last weekend for then-No. 18 Alabama basketball, things didn’t go as the team had planned.

After downing No. 12 Michigan State 81-70 on Thanksgiving Day to open the tournament, the Crimson Tide advanced to play then-No. 20 UConn on Friday. The Huskies gave Alabama all it could handle and then some, outmatching the Crimson Tide on the floor, forcing 21 turnovers and taking advantage by turning those turnovers into 23 points.

The fallout by Alabama resulted in an 82-67 loss, the Crimson Tide’s first of the season. The loss wasn’t due to lack of effort — a factor that plagued Alabama all throughout its 2021-22 season — but instead a rough turnover margin a several well-executed runs by UConn.

“We kind of challenged our guys after the UConn game,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said on Sunday evening. “If you go back and look at that, I think there were two stretches in the first half and the second half that were right about 8-9 minutes total where we got outscored 39-5. The rest for 31-32 minutes, we outscored UConn by 19, but those 8-9 minutes were that disastrous that we got blown out.

“So we told our guys ‘If they start to go on a run, we gotta have a little more grit, determination, fight to us. Like, we can’t get scored on back-to-back, have two empty possessions on offense and just take a bad shot or turn it over. We’ve gotta do a much better job of stopping runs, being tough when stuff’s not going our way.’”

Fortunately for Oats and his Crimson Tide, the players heeded his message heading into Sunday’s third-place game of the PKI: a game against then-No. 1 North Carolina.

By now, you probably know the story. Alabama went toe-to-toe with North Carolina despite forward Noah Clowney suffering a hip contusion early in the game and guard Brandon Miller having a rare poor shooting performance. The Crimson Tide ultimately won 103-101 in four overtimes, due large in part to strong outings from Mark Sears, Charles Bediako and Jahvon Quinerly.

After the game, it was Quinerly that described Alabama’s effort best.

“I think it just shows our resiliency,” Quinerly said. “We didn’t quit. Four overtimes — it’s crazy. I’m still kinda processing the game myself because it was a lot. I’m just proud of the guys, especially our younger guys. Brandon [Miller] struggled a little bit today and he was still locked in on defense and you don’t really see that often from a stud like him.

“It just goes to show that our younger guys, they’re really willing to fight and I’m just proud of the guys. We didn’t quit tonight.”

Quinerly’s statement about the team’s resiliency can be applied to Alabama’s whole season so far, not just its game against the Tar Heels. While only seven games into a brutal non-conference schedule, the Crimson Tide is slowly but surely piecing together a season that has the potential to end in a deep run in March.

That’s a long way off in the future, though. For now, let’s examine what Alabama has been able to do at the midway point of its non-conference schedule.

While the Crimson Tide’s first four games weren’t exactly against high-major opponents, that doesn’t take away from their intended purpose: solid mid-major teams that provided an tough-yet-winnable slate of games while the team sorted out its early-season issues.

Scroll to Continue

The 75-54 win over Longwood and 95-59 win over Liberty provided solid competition while getting the season off the ground. The gradual escalation with victories over South Alabama and Jacksonville State were even more effective at building momentum.

There was reasonable concern heading into the Michigan State game that Alabama hadn’t been tested enough to overcome the red-hot Spartans. The Crimson Tide certainly hadn’t been tested to that caliber of opponent just yet, but it made its win all the more resounding.

Then there was the loss to UConn, followed by the statement win over North Carolina. With two statement wins heard around the world of college basketball in less than four days, it was only right that the Crimson Tide rocketed up to No. 11 in Monday’s AP poll.

“It’s a statement,” Quinerly said after the win over North Carolina. “It’s definitely a statement win. You know, I said it before and I’m going to keep saying it again: we got a young group and we had every reason to kinda give the game away tonight and our young guys, they fought and we just fought as a team and I think it goes to show our resiliency as a group and I’m just super proud of the guys.

“I think it definitely was a statement win. I think our guys are gonna be more than locked in going into South Dakota State.”

Armed with its 6-1 record and two top-12 wins, Alabama now prepares to face brutal stretch of games in the coming weeks. After taking on South Dakota State, the Crimson Tide will then play at No. 1 Houston before returning home to host Memphis, then play a neutral-site game in Birmingham against No. 14 Gonzaga — a rematch in what is certainly seen as a revenge game in the eyes of the Bulldogs.

The road certainly won’t get any easier for Alabama, but the team has already learned a lot over the course of its first seven games. While the six wins proved to be a more positive form of reinforcement, the loss to UConn is what really gave the Crimson Tide the most in terms of learning opportunities.

“It’s the first loss of the season, so you learn about yourself a little bit,” Oats said after the loss to the Huskies. “We got a lot of stuff we gotta get back at. We gotta take care of the ball better. […] Coaching staff’s gotta do a little better job, players gotta do a little bit better. I didn’t think our effort was bad — I thought we played pretty hard for most of the game.”

Alabama is already off to a solid start, but when a team is able to learn and grow from both its wins and losses, that makes it more dangerous. And with the cohesion that the Crimson Tide is showing alongside effort, grit, stout defense and a shooting offense, there’s a lot to like about this team as it heads into the second half of its non-conference schedule.

See Also:

Depth of Alabama Basketball Shows Up in 4OT Win over No. 1 North Carolina

Alabama Basketball Suffers First Loss of Season, Falls to UConn 82-67

No. 18 Alabama Basketball Makes Statement with 81-70 Win over No. 12 Michigan State

Get your Crimson Tide hoops tickets from SI Tickets HERE.



Source link

Related

Tags: basketballshortcomings
Previous Post

Report: Alabama OC Bill O’Brien Considering a Return to NFL Coaching

Next Post

Alabama Football Has a PROBLEM…

BAMA Football Today

BAMA Football Today

Related Posts

UTSA vs Troy Duluth Trading Cure Bowl Prediction, Game Preview
Alabama Football

UTSA vs Troy Duluth Trading Cure Bowl Prediction, Game Preview

by BAMA Football Today
December 12, 2022
Quiet Offensive Coordinator search simmers
Alabama Football

Quiet Offensive Coordinator search simmers

by BAMA Football Today
December 12, 2022
Watch former Alabama football star Jameson Williams score first NFL TD
Alabama Football

Watch former Alabama football star Jameson Williams score first NFL TD

by BAMA Football Today
December 12, 2022
Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle reaches receiving milestone
Alabama Football

Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle reaches receiving milestone

by BAMA Football Today
December 11, 2022
Russell Wilson Knocked Out Of Game As Denver Broncos Season Gets Worse – OutKick
Alabama Football

Russell Wilson Knocked Out Of Game As Denver Broncos Season Gets Worse – OutKick

by BAMA Football Today
December 11, 2022
Next Post
Alabama Football Has a PROBLEM…

Alabama Football Has a PROBLEM...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Alabama Football
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Recruiting
  • Videos

Browse by Tags

#alabamafootball alabama-birmingham alabama’s bamainsider basketball breakdown: championship commanders commitment commitments, coordinator cornerback everything first-round fitzpatrick football… football’s georgia’s highlights hurricanes illustrated impressive mississippi nation’s o’brien officially performance predicting prediction, predictions projection projections quarterback recruiting scholarship spotlight: state’s storylines tagovailoa? tide’s to’oto’o, vanderbilt volunteers what’s ‘alabama

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022

Categories

  • Alabama Football
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Recruiting
  • Videos

Recent Posts

  • Top 10 Incoming College Football Classes: Recruiting, Transfers – Sports Illustrated
  • How the Bears can nail the NFL Draft: A road map through all 7 rounds – Chicago Sun-Times
  • What Tommy Rees hiring means for Alabama football recruiting – Touchdown Alabama Magazine
  • Report: Prominent College Football Assistant Coach Accepts NFL Job – msnNOW
  • Ohio State football 2023 recruiting class after National Signing Day – ClutchPoints

Categories

  • Alabama Football
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Recruiting
  • Videos

Contact Us

© 2021 Bama Football Today

No Result
View All Result
  • Alabama Football
  • Recruiting
  • Alabama in the NFL
  • Videos

© 2021 Bama Football Today

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?