University of Alabama men’s basketball senior guard Ronald Steele has elected to forgo the remainder of his senior season head coach Mark Gottfried announced Tuesday evening. Steele, who has not played since January 11 due to plantar fasciitis, averaged 12.9 points and 3.7 assists per game this season. The 6-2, 191-pound senior point guard returned to action this season after missing the 2007-08 campaign following surgeries to both knees.
"This is a very difficult time for Ron as his injuries have been very unfortunate and difficult for him," said Gottfried. "I’ll always be indebted to his contributions to our program and the University of Alabama and wish him the very best in his future endeavors."
The University of Alabama men’s basketball team (11-6, 1-2 SEC) fell to the Auburn Tigers (11-6, 1-2 SEC), 85-71 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Saturday afternoon. After being down by as many as 17 points in the first half, Alabama pulled within five just after the start of the second half before the Tigers went on a 19-2 run to put the game out of reach. The scoring difference came largely from beyond the three-point arc where Auburn shot 10-20 while Alabama went 2-11.
"I have watched every game that they (Auburn) have played this season and I am not sure that they have had a night where they shot the ball as well as they did today," Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried said. "They shot the lights out. They had a great start to the game with a 23-6 lead, but we got it to five at the start of the second half. Then they just went at it again where they didn't seem to miss a shot and that is hard to overcome."
The University of Alabama men's basketball team remains on the road but stays within the borders of Yellowhammer State to face rival Auburn Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Beard-Eaves Coliseum. The two in-state rivals meet on the hardwood for the 139th time in a series that the Crimson Tide leads by an 84-54 margin. The last five meetings have all been decided by 10 or more points with an average margin of victory of 15.4 points.
"Every time Alabama and Auburn get together to play, we could be playing checkers, and everyone understands how important it is and we know that," said UA head coach Mark Gottfried. "They've got a lot of players coming back, a lot of familiar names on that team and some guys that have played well in the past. I think our games this year with Auburn are going to be really competitive."
The University of Alabama men’s basketball team dropped its first Southeastern Conference road game of the season to Mississippi State 83-74 at Humphrey Coliseum Wednesday night. The Crimson Tide, trailing 78-65, went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to four points with 1:43 remaining but ultimately could not overcome the Bulldogs’ double-digit lead. Four Tide players scored in double figures led by junior Mikhail Torrance who came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points. Torrance shot a perfect 6-6 at the foul line and 6-9 from the floor. Senior Alonzo Gee scored in double figures for the 14th straight game with 15 points. Freshman forward JaMychal Green notched a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophomore Senario Hillman added 12 points to round out the Tide’s double-figure scorers.
The University of Alabama men's basketball team aims to improve to 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference when it hits the road to face rival Mississippi State on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. The Crimson Tide travels over the state line with its 1-0 league record in tow after defeating LSU, 65-59, on Sunday afternoon to improve to 11-4 overall. Mississippi State boasts similar credentials with an 11-5 overall mark after winning its SEC opener, 70-56, over Arkansas in Fayetteville.