Duke beats Tide 74-64 in hard fought game

Tide plays good game against Duke

Once again fouls plague Releford
Jacobs has outstanding game

(Jason DeCrow/ Associated Press ) - Duke’s Jabari Parker (1) shoots against Alabama’s Rodney Cooper (21) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-off tournament Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, in New York.

(New York, New York)      Alabama had what it took to beat Duke. They just could not beat Jabari Parker. Parker dismantled the Tide’s hopes of winning with a great game. He was 9-12 from the field and ended with 27 points. Parker single handed stopped any Tide run with key baskets. If you want to know what’s the difference between elite programs is the inability to sign a Jabari Parker. It is what it is and Alabama will have to make do with who we have. Last night showed we are a pretty good little basketball team. I thought Grant made all the right coaching moves given he had to deal with Parker and his own star once again sitting on the bench in foul trouble. Releford is a senior and surely understands that he can’t defend like before the new rule went into effect. Clearly, the Tide cannot win with the point guard on the bench.

     Here’s what I learned from the game last night.  We are going to beat average teams, we might even beat a few good teams if we shoot well, but we are a hemisphere away from the Dukes of the world. We actually found out that Nick Jacobs can score inside. His weight loss gives him some quickness heretofore lacking.Jacobs also played very hard. That’s something he hasn’t done every game. Get this type of game from Jacobs and we’ll be a much better team. You have to give credit to the guards for getting the ball to him. That little left hand hook looked pretty sweet and Duke never found an answer.

     Bama and Duke had a lot of turnovers but I’d chalk that up to hard nosed defensive playing. Bama held Duke to almost 20 points belong their season average. Look at the box and except for Parker the Tide caused a lot of missed shots. The Tide held Duke to 43% shooting and that was impressive. The Devils made 24-29 free throws which killed Bama. Early fouls hurt the Tide. Duke was going to make sure that Releford wasn’t going to have a big night. The over played the ball screen and the point guard had no where to go. The foul trouble kept Releford from playing aggressive. Give Duke credit for their defense. That is just another example of Duke’s depth of talent.  Getting beat 74-64 is still a loss. It is a loss that shows we are  making progress.

• Algie Key looked good except for one bad turnover which flipped momentum
• Levi  Randolph was looking good
• Cooper has lost his shot but lead the team in rebound again
• Nick Jacobs played the game of his career so far
• Obasahan continues to show he belongs 

        Today the Tide takes on a good Drexel team on Thursday