Alabama gutted out a hard fought victory over a very good Memphis team last night. It was a game where neither team could take control and it was a tug and pull match most of the game. In the second half, Alabama led for most of it and ended up hitting crucial free throws to pull out a 3 point win. Kendric Davis is arguably the best player in the country and he showed that last night. Alabama missed Burnett's lockdown defense, but overall I thought Bradley played solid defense on him. Davis just hit some really difficult shots at time.
I was very impressed with Alabama last night. It would've been very easy to be satisfied with the win over Houston on Saturday and take the night off, but they fought hard to get another quality win. You could tell they looked tired and like they were sleepwalking the first half, but the second half they really kicked it into gear. They shot 48% from the field, 37% from 3, and 72% from the line which are all very good percentages. The turnovers killed Alabama for a lot of the game, mainly the first half, but to score 91 points on 54 shots is very impressive.
The minute rotation I thought was very solid last night. Nine players logged 10+ minutes and they all contributed in different ways. Brandon Miller broke out of his min slump scoring 24 points after scoring 24 combined the past two games on 4/29 shooting. He is something special when he gets going. Mark Sears has become that second scorer behind Miller on a nightly basis scoring 18 points. The two guys I'm continually impressed with are Jaden Bradley and Noah Clowney. They play so hard and do so many things that translate to winning that they're the X factors for the team. Bradley is being asked to guard their best player and run the offense for 20+ minutes and finished with a positive +/-. Clowney is a swiss army knife where he defends, rebounds, blocks shots, hits threes, and can finish around the rim. He affects the game in ways Herb Jones used to.
Alabama now has one more big test before they begin conference play in Gonzaga on Saturday. Expect another dogfight and tug of war battle.
I was very impressed with Alabama last night. It would've been very easy to be satisfied with the win over Houston on Saturday and take the night off, but they fought hard to get another quality win. You could tell they looked tired and like they were sleepwalking the first half, but the second half they really kicked it into gear. They shot 48% from the field, 37% from 3, and 72% from the line which are all very good percentages. The turnovers killed Alabama for a lot of the game, mainly the first half, but to score 91 points on 54 shots is very impressive.
The minute rotation I thought was very solid last night. Nine players logged 10+ minutes and they all contributed in different ways. Brandon Miller broke out of his min slump scoring 24 points after scoring 24 combined the past two games on 4/29 shooting. He is something special when he gets going. Mark Sears has become that second scorer behind Miller on a nightly basis scoring 18 points. The two guys I'm continually impressed with are Jaden Bradley and Noah Clowney. They play so hard and do so many things that translate to winning that they're the X factors for the team. Bradley is being asked to guard their best player and run the offense for 20+ minutes and finished with a positive +/-. Clowney is a swiss army knife where he defends, rebounds, blocks shots, hits threes, and can finish around the rim. He affects the game in ways Herb Jones used to.
Alabama now has one more big test before they begin conference play in Gonzaga on Saturday. Expect another dogfight and tug of war battle.
