Thoughts on Alabama's BIG Win over #1 Houston 71-65

[Jordan Harper]

What. A. WIN!

If you doubted before, you're likely a believer now. This team is different and I have said that since day 1. There are no egos. There's no drama. It's just a group of players that play their tail off all game and play with tremendous heart. A team full of freshmen and transfers shouldn't have been able to go into #1 Houston's place, arguably the most hostile environment in the country, and play as bad as they did and still win the game. Heart. Grit. Determination.

You knew this would be a grind it out kind of game with two of the best defenses in the country going at it, and it was. Alabama led for majority of the first half, but when Clowney and Bediako went off the floor late in the first half, Houston made a run to take a 31-27 lead. Brandon Miller was held without a point in the first half, Clowney and Bediako battled foul trouble, and Alabama had 11 turnovers but were down 4. You'd take that.

In the second half, Houston blitzed Alabama and jumped out to a lead as large as 15 midway through the 2nd half. Team full of freshman shooting below 40% with 13 turnovers and down 15 in a hostile environment typically folds right? Wrong. They kept chipping away cutting it to 7, then 6, then 3, and then 1. Under 4 minutes left and Alabama held Houston scoreless for nearly 4 minutes and took a 1 point lead. Alabama was forcing tough shots and Alabama were so close to putting it away with open threes, but couldn't convert. It came down to their achilles heel, free throws. Brandon Miller, freshman, stepped to the line and knocked down 6 in a row to put the game away and give them a huge win. Miller finished with 8, all on free throws, but came up big when it mattered.

The player of the game for me was Nimari Burnett. He played majority of the game and his focus was to shut down their best scorer in Marcus Sasser and did just that, holding him to 9 points on 2/11 shooting. Two freshmen also came up big in Jaden Bradley and Noah Clowney. Clowney led the team with 16 points and 11 rebounds, to go along with 2 blocks. Bradley finished with 12 and 4 assists. When Quinerly wasn't playing well, he stepped in and played at an extremely high level against the best group of defensive guards in the country. This team is growing up fast and it is coming at the best time before SEC play.

What. A. Win.

 

[CFBFreak]

Roll Tide..... Stoked

 

[Vaughnbama]

It is been a long time since we had a win that big, alost two weeks.

 

[lainey2020]

Griffen, Bradley and Clowney are 3 Freshmen who came up big and will all be back next year. Well at least l hope Clowney will be back.

Great game as you said Harper and we outscored them by 20 in the last 15 minutes. Offense was not good in the first half with all the turnovers. Scored only 26 points in the first half, but came back and scored 45 in the second half against a great defensive team in a tough environment.

 

[mr4bama]

What. A. WIN!

If you doubted before, you're likely a believer now. This team is different and I have said that since day 1. There are no egos. There's no drama. It's just a group of players that play their tail off all game and play with tremendous heart. A team full of freshmen and transfers shouldn't have been able to go into #1 Houston's place, arguably the most hostile environment in the country, and play as bad as they did and still win the game. Heart. Grit. Determination.

You knew this would be a grind it out kind of game with two of the best defenses in the country going at it, and it was. Alabama led for majority of the first half, but when Clowney and Bediako went off the floor late in the first half, Houston made a run to take a 31-27 lead. Brandon Miller was held without a point in the first half, Clowney and Bediako battled foul trouble, and Alabama had 11 turnovers but were down 4. You'd take that.

In the second half, Houston blitzed Alabama and jumped out to a lead as large as 15 midway through the 2nd half. Team full of freshman shooting below 40% with 13 turnovers and down 15 in a hostile environment typically folds right? Wrong. They kept chipping away cutting it to 7, then 6, then 3, and then 1. Under 4 minutes left and Alabama held Houston scoreless for nearly 4 minutes and took a 1 point lead. Alabama was forcing tough shots and Alabama were so close to putting it away with open threes, but couldn't convert. It came down to their achilles heel, free throws. Brandon Miller, freshman, stepped to the line and knocked down 6 in a row to put the game away and give them a huge win. Miller finished with 8, all on free throws, but came up big when it mattered.

The player of the game for me was Nimari Burnett. He played majority of the game and his focus was to shut down their best scorer in Marcus Sasser and did just that, holding him to 9 points on 2/11 shooting. Two freshmen also came up big in Jaden Bradley and Noah Clowney. Clowney led the team with 16 points and 11 rebounds, to go along with 2 blocks. Bradley finished with 12 and 4 assists. When Quinerly wasn't playing well, he stepped in and played at an extremely high level against the best group of defensive guards in the country. This team is growing up fast and it is coming at the best time before SEC play.

What. A. Win.

this young team probably needed that uconn loss because they have grown up big time. i like the lineup with bradley at the point, sears at shooting guard, burnett at small forward, miller at the 4, and clowney at the 5. you can then sub q, griffen, pringle, and bediako and that team can play with anybody in the country. roll tide

 

[Stratman59]

Can't say enough good things about this team. Could be very special!

ROLL TIDE!!!

 

[Jordan Harper]

Houston hasn’t allowed over 60 points all season.

They haven’t played a team near as good as Alabama.

They found out today.

 

[buffington33]

Was at the game, Game was outstanding got discouraged down 15 but proud to set there and watch the fight to claw thereselves back into the game. Went with UOfH alumni and he talked the whole time about the length of Alabama and how dominant they were on Defense. Too Me Bradley was the MVP of the game!

 

[onebamamaniax]

Houston hasn’t allowed over 60 points all season.

They haven’t played a team near as good as Alabama.

They found out today.

Man I've been screaming for 2 weeks, let them play someone before claiming houston as the early champion. I knew if we got to 70 points we win.

 

[jjerry]

Man I've been screaming for 2 weeks, let them play someone before claiming houston as the early champion. I knew if we got to 70 points we win.

Not rat poison but we have a potential Final Four team.

 

[StablerCountry]

Great win for what could be a really special team.

 

[Sheerperfection]

This team has proven they are different and can be very special…..if they can reduce their turnovers and make their free throws they will be extremely tough to beat…..they played with great heart and courage….what an impressive win! RTR!

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I didn’t get to see it and I’ll watch the replay later, but this is the type of grit I’ve been waiting to see from our team. RTR!

 

[mbbama]

I’m about to be hated on this board but I’ll scream it from the rooftops…JQ could walk tomorrow and this team would be better for it immediately.

I don’t know what his +/- is but I can tell you Alabama is a much better basketball team when he’s not on the floor.

 

[mr4bama]

I’m about to be hated on this board but I’ll scream it from the rooftops…JQ could walk tomorrow and this team would be better for it immediately.

I don’t know what his +/- is but I can tell you Alabama is a much better basketball team when he’s not on the floor.

I'm going to cut him some slack. 3 or 4 weeks ago he was not even cleared to play.

 

[TideFever]

This was an amazing win for Bama basketball!

And we did it by playing tough basketball and outworking Houston when the game was on the line. Not by shooting some absurd % from outside or with a player or two just going off but just playing basketball. There are so many things to like about this team. It is amazing how different this team is on the court vs last season. Doesn't even feel like the same program.

Its crazy how our turnovers basically stopped when a few veterans weren't out there. Got a feeling if the kids don't get too full of themselves then they will be the core of this team by Feb with not many minutes left for the older players.

I thought with around 3 minutes to go Houston was starting to look tired. They only really played 7 players until Mark fouled out and they had to play a bench player the last half of the second half. We basically played 10 if you count Pringle's minutes. GIven the full contact nature of the game I thought we wore them down and it showed by their shots late in the game. Especially at the FT line.

It's kind of crazy to watch this team get position for rebounds compared to basically every Bama team for 25 years or more. So many rebounds because we saw a shot about to happen or knew what was coming and quickly moved into position and fought to keep it.

Clowney feels like the steal of the recruiting cycle. He's the type of player we used to never sign even when they had interest in Bama. Big, aggressive, tough, and his motor is always running. Wimp found them regularly but not so many since other than maybe Herb Jones. But Herb was very limited on offense until Oats got here and opened his game up a bit.

To me Griffen and Bradley were the key players in the second half. Their minutes from around the 15 minute mark to the end looked nothing like true freshman that weren't expected to contribute this much this soon. Between them they had 9 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 18 points.

Now, can a team with so many young players come home and answer the bell again without assuming that a win at Houston means everyone else will give us wins?

 

[cola68]

What. A. WIN!

If you doubted before, you're likely a believer now. This team is different and I have said that since day 1. There are no egos. There's no drama. It's just a group of players that play their tail off all game and play with tremendous heart. A team full of freshmen and transfers shouldn't have been able to go into #1 Houston's place, arguably the most hostile environment in the country, and play as bad as they did and still win the game. Heart. Grit. Determination.

You knew this would be a grind it out kind of game with two of the best defenses in the country going at it, and it was. Alabama led for majority of the first half, but when Clowney and Bediako went off the floor late in the first half, Houston made a run to take a 31-27 lead. Brandon Miller was held without a point in the first half, Clowney and Bediako battled foul trouble, and Alabama had 11 turnovers but were down 4. You'd take that.

In the second half, Houston blitzed Alabama and jumped out to a lead as large as 15 midway through the 2nd half. Team full of freshman shooting below 40% with 13 turnovers and down 15 in a hostile environment typically folds right? Wrong. They kept chipping away cutting it to 7, then 6, then 3, and then 1. Under 4 minutes left and Alabama held Houston scoreless for nearly 4 minutes and took a 1 point lead. Alabama was forcing tough shots and Alabama were so close to putting it away with open threes, but couldn't convert. It came down to their achilles heel, free throws. Brandon Miller, freshman, stepped to the line and knocked down 6 in a row to put the game away and give them a huge win. Miller finished with 8, all on free throws, but came up big when it mattered.

The player of the game for me was Nimari Burnett. He played majority of the game and his focus was to shut down their best scorer in Marcus Sasser and did just that, holding him to 9 points on 2/11 shooting. Two freshmen also came up big in Jaden Bradley and Noah Clowney. Clowney led the team with 16 points and 11 rebounds, to go along with 2 blocks. Bradley finished with 12 and 4 assists. When Quinerly wasn't playing well, he stepped in and played at an extremely high level against the best group of defensive guards in the country. This team is growing up fast and it is coming at the best time before SEC play.

What. A. Win.

It’s been a while since bama has had a player Burnett’s size that covers as well as he does. He’s built different.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

this young team probably needed that uconn loss because they have grown up big time. i like the lineup with bradley at the point, sears at shooting guard, burnett at small forward, miller at the 4, and clowney at the 5. you can then sub q, griffen, pringle, and bediako and that team can play with anybody in the country. roll tide

x 2

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

I’m about to be hated on this board but I’ll scream it from the rooftops…JQ could walk tomorrow and this team would be better for it immediately.

I don’t know what his +/- is but I can tell you Alabama is a much better basketball team when he’s not on the floor.

To date, you are 100% correct; however, I still have hope that he will regain his old form. Beause if he does, sky's the limit for this team. I am just glad Oats finally decided to sit Q for the 2nd half, not play Miles at all, and reigned in Gurley.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

To date, you are 100% correct; however, I still have hope that he will regain his old form. Beause if he does, sky's the limit for this team. I am just glad Oats finally decided to sit Q for the 2nd half, not play Miles at all, and reigned in Gurley.

It’s been a struggle a few games in a row… but if people actually want one of the most elite PG’s in the country to walk that’s a new level of nonsense. He does things no one else can do in terms of breaking down defense and facilitating and can also be a high level scorer. We will need him if we’re going to be a great team. Today wasn’t his day, but I promise we will have games this season that he will be the hero.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

It’s been a struggle a few games in a row… but if people actually want one of the most elite PG’s in the country to walk that’s a new level of nonsense. He does things no one else can do in terms of breaking down defense and facilitating and can also be a high level scorer. We will need him if we’re going to be a great team. Today wasn’t his day, but I promise we will have games this season that he will be the hero.

Maybe Q needs to slow down and let the game come to him. He's pressing too hard. His ball-handling skills haven't deminished, but the TOs and not finishing at the basket are his pitfalls right now. Hopefully sitting him for the second half gave him time to reflect and hopefully right the ship. As you stated, "his ability to breakdown defenses" will be needed.

 

[OatsMeal]

It’s been a struggle a few games in a row… but if people actually want one of the most elite PG’s in the country to walk that’s a new level of nonsense. He does things no one else can do in terms of breaking down defense and facilitating and can also be a high level scorer. We will need him if we’re going to be a great team. Today wasn’t his day, but I promise we will have games this season that he will be the hero.

Lou - I’ve been in the defending JQ camp with you for awhile now, but I’m not sure how much longer I have. There’s no doubt he has elite talent. But the recklessness and turnovers are just becoming too much, especially when someone like Bradley comes in and doesn’t turn it over.

Obviously don’t think he should walk at all. But he has got to calm tf down if he wants to play, otherwise, Bradley won’t be giving those minutes back. He can be so good if he would just chill out some.

Now the one thing I will say, his attitude remained fantastic yesterday. Which was huge. He was extremely active on the bench after he got yanked. A lot of maturity for him in that aspect.

 

[gossy]

I’m about to be hated on this board but I’ll scream it from the rooftops…JQ could walk tomorrow and this team would be better for it immediately.

I don’t know what his +/- is but I can tell you Alabama is a much better basketball team when he’s not on the floor.

Let's not give up on him.