BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Brandon Miller will have better days. Alabama basketball will need him to if it is going to make a deep run in this month’s NCAA Tournament.
Thursday, though, the top-seeded Crimson Tide looked just fine as its star forward struggled to muster up any offense inside Legacy Arena on Thursday.
For the first time in his 35-game college career, Miller was held scoreless. However, his teammates picked up the slack as No. 1 seed Alabama opened the tournament with a 96-75 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
As far as Miller’s concerned, that’s all that mattered
“With me, it doesn’t really matter how many points I score,” Miller said after the game. “I think our whole team is just winners, so it doesn’t matter who scores the most points here. The final score at the end of the game, that’s what we care about.”
Monday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats revealed Miller injured his groin during last weekend’s SEC Tournament. Thursday, Miller played a season-low 19 minutes, spending the game’s final 14:34 on the bench. He finished with five rebounds and three assists while shooting 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
“We were trying to play him limited minutes,” Oats said following the game. “We were able to keep him under 20. Hopefully, he can get a lot of rehab today and tomorrow and look a lot more like himself on Saturday.”
When asked about his injury in the locker room Thursday, Miller said it was “getting better by the day.” He said he has not had to limit reps and practice and expects to be ready for Alabama’s second-round matchup against No. 8 seed Maryland on Saturday.
Miller’s scoreless performance Thursday ended a streak of 25 straight games with him scoring in double figures. The only other time he has been held under 10 points was on the road against then-No.1 Houston on Dec 10 when he recorded 8 points and five rebounds during a 71-65 victory over the Cougars.
Miller came into the day leading Alabama averaging 19.6 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from the floor and 40.1% from 3.
He earned the SEC’s Player of the Year and Freshmen of the Year awards and was named the conference tournament’s MVP after averaging 20.3 points, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the Crimson Tide’s three wins in Nashville over the weekend.
Miller will have the opportunity to bounce back in roughly 48 hours as Alabama takes on Maryland on Saturday inside Legacy Arena for a trip to the Sweet 16. The time for the game has yet to be announced.
“He’s been a true professional all year long,” Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly said of Miller. “Basically, I went up and said to him, ‘Don’t worry about it. We need what you’ve been bringing us all year next game. He responded the right way as he had all year. I’m 100 percent confident he’ll be back next game.”
Thursday, though, the top-seeded Crimson Tide looked just fine as its star forward struggled to muster up any offense inside Legacy Arena on Thursday.
For the first time in his 35-game college career, Miller was held scoreless. However, his teammates picked up the slack as No. 1 seed Alabama opened the tournament with a 96-75 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
As far as Miller’s concerned, that’s all that mattered
“With me, it doesn’t really matter how many points I score,” Miller said after the game. “I think our whole team is just winners, so it doesn’t matter who scores the most points here. The final score at the end of the game, that’s what we care about.”
Monday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats revealed Miller injured his groin during last weekend’s SEC Tournament. Thursday, Miller played a season-low 19 minutes, spending the game’s final 14:34 on the bench. He finished with five rebounds and three assists while shooting 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
“We were trying to play him limited minutes,” Oats said following the game. “We were able to keep him under 20. Hopefully, he can get a lot of rehab today and tomorrow and look a lot more like himself on Saturday.”
When asked about his injury in the locker room Thursday, Miller said it was “getting better by the day.” He said he has not had to limit reps and practice and expects to be ready for Alabama’s second-round matchup against No. 8 seed Maryland on Saturday.
Miller’s scoreless performance Thursday ended a streak of 25 straight games with him scoring in double figures. The only other time he has been held under 10 points was on the road against then-No.1 Houston on Dec 10 when he recorded 8 points and five rebounds during a 71-65 victory over the Cougars.
Miller came into the day leading Alabama averaging 19.6 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from the floor and 40.1% from 3.
He earned the SEC’s Player of the Year and Freshmen of the Year awards and was named the conference tournament’s MVP after averaging 20.3 points, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the Crimson Tide’s three wins in Nashville over the weekend.
Miller will have the opportunity to bounce back in roughly 48 hours as Alabama takes on Maryland on Saturday inside Legacy Arena for a trip to the Sweet 16. The time for the game has yet to be announced.
“He’s been a true professional all year long,” Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly said of Miller. “Basically, I went up and said to him, ‘Don’t worry about it. We need what you’ve been bringing us all year next game. He responded the right way as he had all year. I’m 100 percent confident he’ll be back next game.”
