Opening Statement…
“Well, it was the way we wanted to come out. Our starters did a great job starting the game out. The first half was great. We played a lot more like we're accustomed to playing. That's a good team too, look at their last two games. They’re playing their best basketball right now, that's one of the teams just going to finish in the top half of the league would be my guess. Obviously, Castleton had quite a game tonight. We would have liked to have done a better job on him. He's a really good player obviously. We did a good job taking away their threes for the most part, they made that late one. Kind of wanted to shut it down and not give one up, but in the first half, they didn't have one. If you're gonna double, then you have shooters that take this amount of threes, we don't want to give up on a bunch of threes. That’s the way to get upset. So our game plan was not to double him when Charles (Bediako) was in there. Probably needed to double a little more when Charles wasn't in there but other than our defense on Castleton, I thought our efforts tonight were pretty good.”
Benny’s Breakdown: With how things ended in Baton Rouge, Florida presented a real challenge toward Alabama’s quest for SEC perfection. The Gators dominated Tennessee at home before falling to Kentucky on the road and looking for another Quad 1 win on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide has dealt with opposing teams gearing up to play them, but Florida came to Tuscaloosa with a real offensive weapon in Colin Casleton. Castleton was seventh in league scoring and Wednesday marked his third-consecutive game where he scored 20 points or more. While Castleton went off for a game-high 29 points, Alabama was able to limit the damage by holding the Gators to a 34.9 shooting percentage.
On the importance of being locked in against Florida…
“You know what, we weren't happy with our game at LSU. I think the guys understood we’ve got to play better. That wasn't who we were and our point was two of our last three games we haven't played hard enough, well enough. It was our two lowest, that game and the Oklahoma game were our two-lowest blue-collar totals. We made a big point emphasis on getting that back up. It was almost 90 tonight, against (LSU) it was 60. I thought we played a lot harder just, ‘Let’s get back to being who we are and who we know ourselves to be.’ I thought Jaden Bradley had a great start to the game. Offensively, he's getting downhill, making plays. We shot it well that always helps. We out-rebounded them. I mean, I just think when we're locked in and our efforts there, we’re a really good team. Nobody was happy with the game at LSU. It was good to get a win when you don't play well, but we need to play well. We came out with the mindset that we didn't play well and this is a good team. If you don't play well, they’ll beat you, so we had to play well.”
Benny’s Breakdown: With Tennessee and Auburn getting upset on Wednesday, Alabama showed the importance of coming out of the gates fast. It was clear, the Crimson Tide’s trip to Baton Rouge left the team with a bad taste in its mouth so it needed a more concerted effort at both ends of the floor. Alabama outrebounded, dominated the points off turnovers margin and in bench points against the Gators which was a complete turnaround from Saturday’s road trip. While having a bad game and still getting a win is a good thing for a young team to experience, getting back to Alabama’s game was important with the season winding down.
On the energy coming off the bench…
“They play four guards. We started with the same lineup and once we moved Clowney to the five and pretty much going with Clowney, Charles and Pringle at the five which is why Noah Gurley didn’t play tonight. He's doing fine. He’s just not a guard and he’d be our fourth center. Once we got away from the starting group in both halves, we pretty much went four guards out there playing with Brandon (Miller) and Dom (Welch) at the four we just felt like that was better matchups with what they had on the floor. Defensively Pringle gave us some quality minutes. You can obviously play Charles and he did well, but Charles got tired and Colin was doing pretty well. (Pringle) ended up with playing 12 minutes with four points, four rebounds and two blocks. I thought he did it all for us. He played hard, he's been having good practices. It's nice to feel rewarded.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Good to hear that Noah Gurley isn’t dealing with an injury this late in the season. Despite the senior not seeing the floor, Oats’ ability to reconfigure his lineup to match up against whatever the opponent throws at Alabama is impressive. Gone are the days of having to stick with a certain rotation because it included the team’s best players. Now the Crimson Tide can mix and match its personnel without it having a massive impact on the offensive production. Case and point is Nick Pringle. He hasn’t seen much playing time this season but played a crucial 12 minutes in relief of Charles Bediako. While he mustered 4 points in the win, his 4 rebounds and 2 blocks were huge in the win.
On Noah Clowney’s status…
“No concussion, it’s just a facial injury. The doctor checked him out. We’re assuming he’s going to be good to go on Saturday, but I was told it was a facial injury.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Clowney’s impact on this team has grown as he’s become more comfortable in his role. The freshman is quietly averaging near a double-double this season. His defensive intensity is an aspect Alabama would severely miss if he was out long-term. With games against Auburn and Tennessee coming up, Clowney will be relied upon heavily, but the team did showcase its depth again in the win over Florida so it can manage, but not for an extended period of time.
On Mark Sears’ big offensive night…
“He went through a little bit of a slump there and it looks like he’s back — 4 of 6 is pretty good shooting. He's been aggressive. We need him, him and Brandon have been our two leading scorers all year. He makes the offense go and he's able to put some points up too. It's great when Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Bradley are playing as well as they are Sears gets better shots, Brandon gets better shots. Sears can also attack the rim. He's aggressive. gets fouled pretty frequently because he's a tough, physical, downhill guard but when he's making shots he's tough to guard.
Benny’s Breakdown: Mark Sears has found his game again and not a moment too soon. After scoring just 24 points combined against Mississippi State, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, the guard recorded back-to-back outings with double-digits in scoring. His 19 points were his highest game total since he recorded 26 against Arkansas on Jan. 11. While his production was impressive, Sears found his efficient shooting again as he went 7-for-9 from the field on Wednesday which included four 3-pointers, the most he’s had since Dec. 28. With Alabama relying on its depth, Sears is becoming a major aspect of the offense and will need to keep his production up if the Crimson Tide is going to make a deep run in the postseason.
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