The Alabama basketball team (12-7, 2-3 SEC) dropped its first game at home in Southeastern Conference play, falling to Kentucky (16-4, 5-0 SEC) 61-51 at Coleman Coliseum Saturday afternoon. The game was back-and-forth throughout with nine lead changes, but the Wildcats gained control down the stretch by converting 12-14 free throws in the final five minutes.
Both teams struggled to find its range offensively as Alabama shot 29 percent (17-58) from the field, its lowest percentage of the season, while Kentucky made 39 percent (19-49) of its field goal attempts.
"First thing is that you have to give Kentucky a lot of credit," head coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought defensively they did a great job. We never really seemed to get in a great flow. We were not in a good rhythm offensively. Defensively, I think we did a pretty good job most of the game. I thought in the second half, the difference was our turnovers that gave them some easy baskets."
The Alabama basketball team (12-6, 2-2 SEC) defeated Mississippi (10-8, 1-3 SEC) 76-73 in hard fought contest here in Coleman Coliseum Wednesday night. The Crimson Tide recorded one of its best shooting nights of the year, knocking down 55 percent (28-51) of its field goal attempts on the night. While the Tide had a stellar night shooting the ball, the difference came on the defensive end where Alabama came up with two crucial stops in the final minute to preserve its lead. Sophomore Senario Hillman sank two clutch free throws with 2.1 seconds left to force Ole Miss to attempt a desperation half-court shot that came up short as time expired.
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 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 basketball team (11-4) earned a hard fought victory in its Southeastern Conference opener with a 65-59 win over LSU (12-3) at Coleman Coliseum Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Senario Hillman scored the Tide's final nine points and knocked down 7-8 free throws in the final minute to put the game away.
"It was just a gutsy win," head coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought Senario Hillman took the game over in the second half and did so many things well. I thought in second half, defensively, we weren’t nearly as good as we were in the first half. Part of that was because Tasmin Mitchell played, and he is such a tough match up as an interior player for our guys. Bottom line is that we dug down and found a way to win."