On the points of emphasis on the defensive end of the floor…
“Thought we had a good plan for Kobe Brown. Obviously Kobe Brown and Hodge have been their big scorers. We didn't do as good a job on Hodge. Thought we did a pretty good job on Kobe. Number one thing is getting back in transition. This team likes to run just like we like to run. If you look at fast break points, they still ended up with 18. A lot of those came out of turnovers. We made a big point of emphasis on not turning the ball over because it feeds their transition. We didn't do a great job. In the half court I thought we did a really good job. I thought Charles did a great job protecting the rim. I thought Brandon, Clowney and Gurley did a pretty good job when we got switched onto Kobe Brown. We forced them to take rim shots. Threes, they shot 13 of 27 at the rim, 3 of 16 on their nine rim twos. We wanted to run them off the three-point line. They like to shoot a lot of threes. Still feel like they got too many off. They ended up 7 of 25. I felt like defensively we were able to influence their shot geography the way we wanted it more, push them down to Charles when he was in, take the long contested twos. I thought we did a pretty good job of that. Field goal percentage, defense, pretty good. They only shot 33% from the field. I thought we did a good job of that.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama did a great job slowing down Missouri’s potent offense. The Tigers are ranked ninth in offensive efficiency according to KenPom. They average 119.4 points per 100 possessions, which is the highest mark in the SEC. Led by Kobe Brown, Missouri averaged more than 98 points per game over its four-game winning streak coming into Saturday. Brown, who was named to the Associated Press All-SEC first team, tallied just six points against Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s length really bothered the Tigers which helped close the game in the second half.
On if offensive execution was what he was getting on his players about the most…
“Thought our offense was pretty bad at times early. We weren't aggressive enough. We talked about our plan versus their switch. I think we were locked in as we needed to be against their switching. Yeah, we need to play more aggressive on offense against the switching. Too passive. We'd come off, they'd switch, back it up, sit there and dribble for a while. Not the way we wanted to play against it. I was trying to get our guys to be way more aggressive. I thought Jaden Bradley was pretty aggressive for us early. I thought he helped. Gave us really good minutes. JQ and JB those two guys, it's good that when one maybe struggles a little bit, the other one… JQ had a really good second half with his assists. He didn't score well today, seven assists, one turnover. He did play well, just didn't score as well as we would like. Jaden did a good job coming in and being aggressive against some of the switching.”
Benny’s Breakdown: It wasn’t Jahvon Quinerly’s day on Saturday. He scored just one point in the and went 0-for-9 from the floor, but thanks to Alabama’s depth, it was able to make a few lineups changes to keep itself in the game. Jaden Bradley, who suggested Quinerly should start on Friday, got his chance to make an impact. Bradley used his ability to get to the rim to help give the Crimson Tide some breathing room in the second half. Bradley finished with six points on 3 of 6 shooting, but those points were cruiclal on Saturday.
On Noah Gurley, Mark Sears…
“Gurley is now 4 of 5 in the tournament from three, which is huge. All the work that he's put in, even when he wasn't playing a ton, just kept working. It's paying off. We needed it. That three, that put it from what to what? Went from six to nine? That was big because they cut that thing. Six was the lowest they cut it once we built it to 10. Seemed like it was getting too close for comfort. He stretched that out a little bit. I thought he played great on defense. He almost played 20 minutes tonight. Really happy for Noah. His character, attitude, his leadership. I went up and grabbed him. I said, ‘Look, man, your leadership has been great all year, we need you to lead on the floor. Your leadership in the timeout has been good. We need you to do some stuff on the floor, get a big rebound, make a tough play.’ He did that. Sears, look, there's no way he goes cold from three three games in a row. He shot it well for us all year. He was 1 for 8 yesterday, I think, 2 for 17 in the tournament. Way too good a shooter. I thought his three hit was timely. He went to the free-throw line, didn't let the fact that he wasn't making threes mess with his head at the free-throw line. He was still able to get downhill and finish it. The one finish he had at the rim in the first half. He's a tough kid. Good for us an defense. I'm pretty confident he'll start making some shots tomorrow hopefully.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Speaking of crucial bench contributions, Noah Gurley has really come into his own at the SEC Championship tournament. In the two games he’s seen extended minutes, he’s averaged eight points per game, nearly doubling his offensive production during the regular season. His contributions are crucial especially with Mark Sears’ recent struggles. Sears scored nine points on 2 of 10 shooting which includes a 1 of 9 mark from the 3-point line. Sears’ shooting from deep was the reason he was brought to Alabama, but his recent slump hasn’t cost the Crimson Tide thanks to its depth.
On Alabama’s 3-point shooting mentality…
“Look, we kept saying every timeout, ‘We are not turning down an open catch-and-shoot three.’ I thought there was one one of our kids took was a little questionable in the first half off the dribble, highly contested. We're not taking those. Any of you shooters get an open catch-and-shoot three, I don't care what you are, 0 for 6 -- I was upset that Quinerly turned one down there late in the game. We ended up with a poor shot, shot selection. Look, my philosophy is shooters are going to shoot. They need to shoot. I need to pump them full of confidence. I am never second-guessing an open catch-and-shoot. Obviously a late game maybe in the last minute when we tell them we're taking free throws and layups, we're not going to take one, but in the course of the game, Sears, Quinerly, Clowney, Brandon, I don't really care, 0 for 6, we're taking them. I think you see what happened. I knew we were 2 for 19, so we were 2 for 20 at one point. We're going to hit them. I tell them if we're not going to hit them, we'll kill them on the offensive boards, get rebounds, hit them that way. We also know we can score at the rim. We made 19 field goals at the rim the. The fact that everyone knows we're capable of exploding from three, you still keep the defense spread out, able to get downhill to the rim, score 38 points right at the rim. That was big for us tonight, too.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama has been criticized in the past for being a one-trick pony offense. The scouting report was if teams could limit the Crimson Tide’s effectiveness from deep and slow the tempo down, Alabama is beatable. However this year, Alabama has bucked that notion setting a program record for most wins in a single season by finding multiple ways to win games. Against the Tigers, Alabama was able to hit the 3-pointers it needed to while finding ways to get the defensive stops in the second half. While Alabama struggled from deep, Oats ensured that the offense isn’t going to change if it struggles. A bold strategy for sure, but you have to commend Oats for sticking with what works.
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