Heading into its trip to Central Florida, No. 10 Alabama basketball hoped to be wrapping up play in the ESPN Events Invitational with a bigger matchup. Nevertheless, a 2-1 showing in the tournament isn’t a bad consolation prize.
Alabama concluded its play in the tournament Sunday, downing Miami 96-64. The win came after the Crimson Tide opened the tournament with a loss to Iona on Thursday before rebounding with a victory over Drake on Friday.
"It would have been nice to beat Iona, get in the championship, but sometimes you've got to take a loss and learn from stuff," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "I thought as the tournament moved along, the ball moved better, guys played more unselfish. I thought we were better against Drake than we were Iona. I thought the last 24 minutes of this game was a lot better than even against Drake. So we're continuing to see improvement, which is what we want to see at this point."
Alabama (6-1) slumped to another slow start as a string of early turnovers saw the Tide dig itself into an early deficit. Trailing 23-18 with 6:48 left in the half, Oats sparked some energy in his squad picking up his third technical foul of the season. The display of passion inspired a 17-7 run as the Tide went into the break with a 33-30 lead following a buzzer-beating 3 from Jahvon Quinerly.
Oats claims the technical foul wasn't intentional but noted it did provide a boost to his team moving forward. The head coach now has three technical fouls over seven games this season.
"I just wanted the calls to match on each end," Oats explained. "But part of it too was I didn't think our intensity was too high, so somehow we had to get our intensity picked up. I was trying to pick mine up, and maybe it should have been directed at the players."
Regardless, that message was received by the Tide.
"It was just a difference-maker," freshman guard JD Davison said of Oats' technical foul. "... When Coach got that tech, we got together and talked in the huddle. We just started to play harder. Everything just came together after."
Alabama continued the run to open up the second half, scoring the first seven points after the break to extend its lead to double digits. Miami (4-3) suffered a five-minute scoring drought over that span, missing a string of eight straight shots from the floor.
Keon Ellis played a major role in helping the Tide separate itself in the second, half, scoring eight straight points to increase Alabama’s advantage to 48-36 with 15:57 remaining. The senior shook off a rough showing in his previous two games to lead the Tide with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
"Once we're just playing the right way, I feel like it could have been anybody else, but it just happened to be me to be the one in the spot to knock down the shots," Ellis said. "I'm just trying to help my teammates. They give me a good look, and I just try to help them by making it."
Alabama extended its lead to 27 points as part of a 19-2 run and never looked back as it cruised to a comfortable win.
The Tide forced 13 turnovers which it turned into 25 points. Alabama held a 42-23 advantage on the boards and a 38-28 edge in points in the paint. Alabama led 14-4 in offensive rebounds which resulted in a 15-4 advantage in second-chance points.
After struggling from beyond the arc earlier in the tournament, Alabama made 16 of 30 shots from deep while holding Miami to 4 of 17.
Jaden Shackelford scored 15 points to extend his run of six straight games in double-digit scoring to begin the season. Juwan Gary made his second straight start at forward, recording 13 points to go with five rebounds.
Davison put in the best game of his early career, recording his first double-double with a season-high 13 points and 10 assists. The five-star freshman also recorded six rebounds and shot 6 of 8 from the floor.
"I just felt like we moved the ball the whole night, and the defense shifted," Davison said. "I just found the right guy, and I just feel good about it, seeing my teammates making shots and everything flowing well for us."
Davison also earned the team's blue-collar award, notching a steal while recording a plus-20 contribution margin.
“I thought JD grew up a lot," Oats said. "This is the best he’s played by far. ... Shoot, to almost have a triple-double against another high-major team in his seventh game of his career is pretty impressive."
Alabama will now head into what figures to be its toughest stretch of the season as it travels to Seattle to take on No. 1 Gonzaga on Saturday. From there the Tide will host No. 12 Houston on Dec. 11 before traveling to No. 9 Memphis on Dec. 14.
“With those three games looming out there, it was pretty important that we finished 2-1 [in this tournament],” Oats said. “It would have been better if we would have finished 2-1 and lost in the championship, but it wasn’t meant to be. We needed to learn, losing to Iona with the way they guarded us. We got better. At this stage of the year, you just got to get better.”
Alabama concluded its play in the tournament Sunday, downing Miami 96-64. The win came after the Crimson Tide opened the tournament with a loss to Iona on Thursday before rebounding with a victory over Drake on Friday.
"It would have been nice to beat Iona, get in the championship, but sometimes you've got to take a loss and learn from stuff," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "I thought as the tournament moved along, the ball moved better, guys played more unselfish. I thought we were better against Drake than we were Iona. I thought the last 24 minutes of this game was a lot better than even against Drake. So we're continuing to see improvement, which is what we want to see at this point."
Alabama (6-1) slumped to another slow start as a string of early turnovers saw the Tide dig itself into an early deficit. Trailing 23-18 with 6:48 left in the half, Oats sparked some energy in his squad picking up his third technical foul of the season. The display of passion inspired a 17-7 run as the Tide went into the break with a 33-30 lead following a buzzer-beating 3 from Jahvon Quinerly.
Oats claims the technical foul wasn't intentional but noted it did provide a boost to his team moving forward. The head coach now has three technical fouls over seven games this season.
"I just wanted the calls to match on each end," Oats explained. "But part of it too was I didn't think our intensity was too high, so somehow we had to get our intensity picked up. I was trying to pick mine up, and maybe it should have been directed at the players."
Regardless, that message was received by the Tide.
"It was just a difference-maker," freshman guard JD Davison said of Oats' technical foul. "... When Coach got that tech, we got together and talked in the huddle. We just started to play harder. Everything just came together after."
Alabama continued the run to open up the second half, scoring the first seven points after the break to extend its lead to double digits. Miami (4-3) suffered a five-minute scoring drought over that span, missing a string of eight straight shots from the floor.
Keon Ellis played a major role in helping the Tide separate itself in the second, half, scoring eight straight points to increase Alabama’s advantage to 48-36 with 15:57 remaining. The senior shook off a rough showing in his previous two games to lead the Tide with 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
"Once we're just playing the right way, I feel like it could have been anybody else, but it just happened to be me to be the one in the spot to knock down the shots," Ellis said. "I'm just trying to help my teammates. They give me a good look, and I just try to help them by making it."
Alabama extended its lead to 27 points as part of a 19-2 run and never looked back as it cruised to a comfortable win.
The Tide forced 13 turnovers which it turned into 25 points. Alabama held a 42-23 advantage on the boards and a 38-28 edge in points in the paint. Alabama led 14-4 in offensive rebounds which resulted in a 15-4 advantage in second-chance points.
After struggling from beyond the arc earlier in the tournament, Alabama made 16 of 30 shots from deep while holding Miami to 4 of 17.
Jaden Shackelford scored 15 points to extend his run of six straight games in double-digit scoring to begin the season. Juwan Gary made his second straight start at forward, recording 13 points to go with five rebounds.
Davison put in the best game of his early career, recording his first double-double with a season-high 13 points and 10 assists. The five-star freshman also recorded six rebounds and shot 6 of 8 from the floor.
"I just felt like we moved the ball the whole night, and the defense shifted," Davison said. "I just found the right guy, and I just feel good about it, seeing my teammates making shots and everything flowing well for us."
Davison also earned the team's blue-collar award, notching a steal while recording a plus-20 contribution margin.
“I thought JD grew up a lot," Oats said. "This is the best he’s played by far. ... Shoot, to almost have a triple-double against another high-major team in his seventh game of his career is pretty impressive."
Alabama will now head into what figures to be its toughest stretch of the season as it travels to Seattle to take on No. 1 Gonzaga on Saturday. From there the Tide will host No. 12 Houston on Dec. 11 before traveling to No. 9 Memphis on Dec. 14.
“With those three games looming out there, it was pretty important that we finished 2-1 [in this tournament],” Oats said. “It would have been better if we would have finished 2-1 and lost in the championship, but it wasn’t meant to be. We needed to learn, losing to Iona with the way they guarded us. We got better. At this stage of the year, you just got to get better.”
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