Alabama gets big win 65-62...
Cooper hits the winner with 12 seconds left
Let's get right to it. Alabama had a lot of things to prove last night. They proved a lot of those things to this writer. Oregon State is not a great team. They aren't chopped liver either. Alabama needed to prove they could compete against a team who could muscle them around inside. It took Craig Robinson almost 30 minutes before he tried to do this but by that time the Tide has taken a 15 point lead. The point is that through some great coaching Grant was able to negate some of that size.
I was very impressed with how Alabama managed to play OSU almost even in the paint despite at 28-42 rebound deficit. That sounds funny saying almost even you have a rebound margin that great. Here's how. OSU got a lot of those rebounds because Alabama took a lot of shots. The team had 12 more shots than OSU which made up for a 43% shooting night. In looking at the play by play board the Tide was almost dead even with OSU in boards until the last 10 minutes of the game. They weren't exactly even, but close enough. During that stretch the Tide was shooting over 50%. That percentage dropped in the last part of the game when the Tide got tight and missed a lot of shots.. When Alabama started missing shots and free throws the Beavers padded their rebound lead. That's what having a 15 point lead does for your team. The margin of error becomes larger. I know that Coach Grant was unhappy with the way the team finished the game. In summary, he said the team played well but didn't finish well because it appeared the Tide was playing not to lose. The team got a little tentative. Credit OSU for coming back. Credit the Tide for hanging on to win.
We had predicted that this might be a breakout game for Trevor Lacey. He showed the SEC that he is a player. He made a lot of big baskets. His pass to Rodney Cooper was the best play he made all night. Known primarily as a shooter, Lacey has expanded his game to prove he can drive and score. He can also driven and dish. The reason that Lacey could make that play was OSU had to respect his outside shooting. Lacey had not chance to square up into a good shoactt so he drove toward the paint. When OSU collasped around Lacey he kicked it out to the corner where Cooper hit the winner. One key stat is that Alabama had 7 offensive rebounds and scored 5 baskets on those boards.
I also think this was a kind of showcase game for Releford. His first half was a good a performance as any guard I've seen lately. His ability to penetrate and score is uncanny. One thing you might notice is that when his penetration is stopped he has the gift of being able to adjust and shot. Not many guards can do that.. Releford is a great little point guard. He may not get the attention that some points get nationally but he gets the job done. I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Releford is our best insider player. One reason the Tide did so well in the paint was the 14 points that Releford got inside. He had 12 of those points in the first half. All the players eventually wore down OSU on their offensive end of the floor. OSU started to run a rag-tag offense and it allowed Bama to get a big lead. Defense was the key for Bama last night
Bama shot the ball pretty well. They missed a lot of 3 point shots, but they made 7. Lacey was 4-7 from the arc. More important was the fact that OSU couldn't ignore him. That allowed the middle to open up some for Releford, Gunderson, and Jacobs. Gunderson played well. He is not mobile but he is big. He had 2 nice baskets, and pulled down 4 rebounds. He also had a block. Here's how well he played - when Big Carl picked up his 5th foul you could clearly see the concern in Grant's face. Carl was altering a lot of shots inside and was plugging the leak in that frantic last 10 mintues. Jacobs is getting well. He had 4 points and 4 rebounds. I thought he also had one blocked shot but the final stats didn't reflect one. Here is a stat that Bama fans better get used to: The Tide had one blocked shot for the game. That is a big drop off from last season. Help is on the way in the form of Jimmie Taylor and Hale. Both are long and jump well. Bama isn't finished with their recruiting. They are stil trying to find a post player. We have two scholorships to play with. Because of our youth a lot of scholorships are lumped into two classes. Grant has to be careful with those remaining two. We aren't having much luck in finding the player we want but the process is taking us overseas.
I have to say that Gueye has been very disappointing. Perhaps with a breakout game he will approve. I'm not quiet sure that leave Releford on the bench serves much purpose but we have won two good games with him coming off the bench. Yesterday we said the Tide would win if they had 10 or less turnovers. They had only 8. Lacey beat Starks. Starks was ball and chained all night with Grant choosing to alternate defenders on him and it worked like a charm.
A few parting shots...
Back to Tider Insider
Cooper hits the winner with 12 seconds left
I was very impressed with how Alabama managed to play OSU almost even in the paint despite at 28-42 rebound deficit. That sounds funny saying almost even you have a rebound margin that great. Here's how. OSU got a lot of those rebounds because Alabama took a lot of shots. The team had 12 more shots than OSU which made up for a 43% shooting night. In looking at the play by play board the Tide was almost dead even with OSU in boards until the last 10 minutes of the game. They weren't exactly even, but close enough. During that stretch the Tide was shooting over 50%. That percentage dropped in the last part of the game when the Tide got tight and missed a lot of shots.. When Alabama started missing shots and free throws the Beavers padded their rebound lead. That's what having a 15 point lead does for your team. The margin of error becomes larger. I know that Coach Grant was unhappy with the way the team finished the game. In summary, he said the team played well but didn't finish well because it appeared the Tide was playing not to lose. The team got a little tentative. Credit OSU for coming back. Credit the Tide for hanging on to win.
I also think this was a kind of showcase game for Releford. His first half was a good a performance as any guard I've seen lately. His ability to penetrate and score is uncanny. One thing you might notice is that when his penetration is stopped he has the gift of being able to adjust and shot. Not many guards can do that.. Releford is a great little point guard. He may not get the attention that some points get nationally but he gets the job done. I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Releford is our best insider player. One reason the Tide did so well in the paint was the 14 points that Releford got inside. He had 12 of those points in the first half. All the players eventually wore down OSU on their offensive end of the floor. OSU started to run a rag-tag offense and it allowed Bama to get a big lead. Defense was the key for Bama last night
Bama shot the ball pretty well. They missed a lot of 3 point shots, but they made 7. Lacey was 4-7 from the arc. More important was the fact that OSU couldn't ignore him. That allowed the middle to open up some for Releford, Gunderson, and Jacobs. Gunderson played well. He is not mobile but he is big. He had 2 nice baskets, and pulled down 4 rebounds. He also had a block. Here's how well he played - when Big Carl picked up his 5th foul you could clearly see the concern in Grant's face. Carl was altering a lot of shots inside and was plugging the leak in that frantic last 10 mintues. Jacobs is getting well. He had 4 points and 4 rebounds. I thought he also had one blocked shot but the final stats didn't reflect one. Here is a stat that Bama fans better get used to: The Tide had one blocked shot for the game. That is a big drop off from last season. Help is on the way in the form of Jimmie Taylor and Hale. Both are long and jump well. Bama isn't finished with their recruiting. They are stil trying to find a post player. We have two scholorships to play with. Because of our youth a lot of scholorships are lumped into two classes. Grant has to be careful with those remaining two. We aren't having much luck in finding the player we want but the process is taking us overseas. A few parting shots...
- Bama was tired late in the game. With only ten players someone has got to step up off the bench. Villinova was forced to OT to beat Purdue. We may see two tired teams tonight.
- If I have counted correctly the Tide has forced 58 turnovers in 3 games. WOW
- Bama needs to get Randolph a little more involved in the offense. He is a better offensive player than he has shown.
- For those who argue that Cooper takes too many shots - he's a shooter he thinks they are all going in. That's why he didn't hesitate to take the winning basket. He also plays pretty tough inside. He has a decent outside shot and can penetrate. He's a winner.
- I bet their was no more that 1000-1500 hundred fans at the star of the game. Embarrassing for a sports city, but they have a lot of more important things to worry about right now. At least 100 of those fans were Tide fans. It's nice hear Roll Tide whereever we play.
- BAMA SHUT DOWN AHMAD STARKS TO 17 BELOW HIS AVERAGE. VERY GOOD.
Back to Tider Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment