When it comes to practice, Avery Johnson feels less is more. As Alabama basketball heads into the final stretch of its regular-season schedule, the head coach has drastically changed his practices, trimming them down from more than two hours to roughly 75 minutes.
“We just took a lot of drills out of our practice that I felt didn’t make any sense,” Johnson said. “We wanted to get off to a quicker start in practice, so after the warmup, we don’t slide into practice anymore. We’re really starting fast, and hopefully, that’s giving us some energy.”
That approach seemed to help during Alabama’s most recent game as it got off to a 25-6 lead against Vanderbilt. An energized Crimson Tide recorded a season-high 10 steals and forced 17 Vanderbilt turnovers which translated to 24 points during the 68-81 victory.
“I think that kind of has an effect on our bodies at the start of games sometimes,” said forward Tevin Mack, who made back-to-back 3s in the game’s first two minutes. “I think now we just kind of go out there and be aggressive from the jump, and we have a lot more energy to go out and do it.”
Mack wasn’t the only player to benefit from the lighter load during practice. Johnson mentioned freshman Kira Lewis Jr. as part of his decision to go with a shorter workout. Lewis reclassified to the 2018 season, skipping his senior year of high school to join Alabama. The 17-year-old scored a game-high 19 points against Vanderbilt, making 4 of 8 shots from beyond the arc.
“We’ve just got to manage the team,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a part of coaching now. Not just calling plays in the game or rotation, I think it’s knowing how to manage your team leading up to games.”
Alabama (16-11, 7-7 in the SEC) will need a similarly fast start Tuesday as it travels to Columbia, S.C. to take on South Carolina (14-13, 9-5). After a lackluster non-conference schedule, the Gamecocks have been solid in conference play and are currently battling Ole Miss for the final double bye in the SEC Tournament.
Following Alabama’s win over Vanderbilt on Saturday, Johnson said Monday’s practice would be one of the hardest his team has gone through this season. The head coach called South Carolina a “very physical team” and said he plans to schedule practice accordingly to prepare his players for what could be a scrappy game.
“I think today in practice we’re going to probably be prepared to get fouled a lot,” Mack said. “Just being really aggressive from the scout team and just really being able to play tough and play through the contact because we might not get those calls on the road in South Carolina. We’ve got to be ready for that.”
Another tweak Alabama made against Vanderbilt was paring down its rotation. The Crimson Tide used just eight players against the Commodores. Four of those players — Lewis, Dazon Ingram, Donta Hall and John Petty Jr. — played more than 30 minutes.
“We’re just going to do whatever it takes to win,” Johnson said. “Whatever we think it takes to win, whether it’s playing 11 guys, playing Lawson (Schaffer), playing six guys. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Alabama is currently rated as the No. 53 team in the NET rankings used to help determine the NCAA Tournament field. The Crimson Tide has a combined record of 9-10 against Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 teams. Tuesday’s game against South Carolina currently classifies as a Quadrant 2 game. Alabama and South Carolina will tipoff at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
“Right now, it’s time for everybody to step their games up at this point in the season because it’s like our last final stretch, so we’ve got to finish strong for sure,” Mack said. “So I think right now everybody’s got to step up to their A-game and take it to that level. We all have different levels we can tap into, so we’ve just got to take it there. It’s time for that now.”
