'Bama wins over name brand UCLA...
Tide guts out win despite poor play...
Tarrant stars with game high 24 pts.
If you have any historical perspective about college basketball, you have to give the Tide credit for beating the UCLA Bruins. Granted, this isn't a vintage Gold and Blue team. Likewise, this isn't a great 'Bama team either. The first half of the game looked more like an eight grade girls game than big time basketball. UCLA literally self destructed. 6 unforced turnovers put the west coast team in a straight jacket. Alabama was only slightly better. Let's define that just a bit. Ricky Tarrant was better. Ricky Tarrant scored 18 points in the first half. For much of the first twenty minutes Tarrant was outscoring the Bruins on his own. That was outstanding.
We won the game, but the road from start to finish wasn't pretty. But, the Tide won. Last season this was the type game they would have likely lost. 'Bama shot only 33% from the floor. The missed free throws that would have iced the game early on. They Tide made only
4-22 from downtown for a miserable 18.2%. UCLA shot only 30.8% from the floor. The Bruins made only 5 three point baskets on 26% shooting. There was more iron clanging that in a blacksmith's shop. The Tide did manage to score 56 points. That's not many, but UCLA could put up only 50. It was a win, but not one for the ages. Hey, Alabama can't be picky at this point. The Tide moved to 9-3 with North Florida on stage Jan. 2, which will close out the pre-SEC schedule for the Tide. 10-3 is a world beater number compared to the total of 13 games the Tide won last season.North Florida has already beaten BIG 10 Purdue, so that game doesn't have cake walk in a box written on the outside.
If you read the posts of forums this morning you probably thought we lost. We didn't. You probably thought that Grant couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag. Yes and no, in my opinion on that one. My pregame post suggested the winner would do four things:
1. The Tide broke even on the boards and gave up only 9 offensive rebounds. That is more than you'd like, but they snared 8 themselves;
2. The Tide would make their free throws. They didn't but they did. The were only 18-30 which was far below their season average. UCLA made only 13. As C.M. Newton would remind us that the key stat is how many did we make and not how many did we miss. Credit to Ricky Tarrant for forcing the issue in the paint.
3. Shooting for both teams was abysmal. UCLA was more abysmal. Alabama knocked down one third of third shots. UCLA knocked down about a quarter of their attempts.
4. 'Bama had only 12 turnovers. Some where foolish, some came from hard effort, and a couple were just crazy. The Bruins were credited with 18 but most of their turnovers were self induced. You know what I mean? Dribbling the ball off your own foot, standing on an out of bounds line, lazy passes, and anything else from the Book of Turnover Disasters that coach preach from daily.
On balance the Tide won each of those four areas. I was proud of the rebounding effort in particular. The Tide also did some other good things:
a. The put two quick fouls on Parade High School All-American Kevon Looney. He sat most of the first half as a result. Because of that, the Bruins never got their offense on track. I bet they are tired of coming to the southeast to be embarrassed.
b. When it mattered most the Tide held their composure and made some free throws. Down the stretch they made 6-8 when they needed them.
c. They held Tony Parker, the interior banger for the Bruins, to only 10 points. Parker got some points in the second half when Taylor was on the bench. Last season he killed the Tide. I give the nod to Taylor this year.
d. The Tide played good switch defense on Alford when he needed to score. He put up one air ball and one brick in the last 45 seconds.
e. The boards were a draw, and 'Bama worked hard to get the really big ones down to the wire.
There was a lot of bad things as well. Some ill advised shots. The complete disappearance of Cooper on offense. But lost in his poor offensive showing was some tough rebounding and defense against Norman Powell, who is the Bruin's top player. He finished with only 3 points and was clearly upset with the Tide defense. I think it was interesting we won this game with Cooper scoring only 1 point. Way to much standing around on offense again.
You can only speculate why Grant left Taylor in the game after he got his third foul. When he picked up his forth file on the next trip down the floor, the Bruins were able to get the ball to Parker, who scored 4 baskets. It was questionable coaching to leave in a player who gets a lot of fouls. For those who find a lot of fault in Grant's game management you have your evidence. I also wondered why Riley Norris was on the pine the last ten minutes. Norris is a good player who seems to make things happen. It's also time to give him the green light to shoot more. He is a deadly shooter. For those who think he should replace Cooper I'd advise that he's not quite ready. Take Cooper's defense out of the game and we would have lost the game. Cooper and company cut the head off the pride of the UCLA floor game when they shut down Powell. At times those things get lost in the flow of a game. Kudos to Cooper for keeping up the hard inside play when his offense was missing.
Boy, did Grant ever slow the pace down. Fans go nuts when this happens. Here's my question - what exactly should he have done? The most effective way to minimize poor shooting is to take less shots. Try to get the foul line as often as possible, and take only good shots. Alabama shortened the game because of their poor offensive play. The poor offensive play was not the slow play. It was absolutely the best thing Grant could have done. It takes guts to minimize your shots in a tight game. Grant knew his team was solid on defense and wasn't giving up a lot of second shots. Great move by Grant, and I tip my hat to him regardless of the blow back. But coach, could you please not let Taylor and Kessens handle the ball 30 feet from the baskets. Only a couple of things can happen out there in the hinterlands and neither are good.
Had the Tide been shooting well early, on the game would have been over by halftime. The Tide could have folded late in the second half. They didn't. They sucked it up, stuck with the new game plan on offense and won. In the end that is all that matters, or should matter. It wasn't the game I expected to see, but it was the result I'd hoped for. Roll Tide.
Tide guts out win despite poor play...
Tarrant stars with game high 24 pts.
 |
| Randolph moves on Alford for a layup... |
We won the game, but the road from start to finish wasn't pretty. But, the Tide won. Last season this was the type game they would have likely lost. 'Bama shot only 33% from the floor. The missed free throws that would have iced the game early on. They Tide made only
4-22 from downtown for a miserable 18.2%. UCLA shot only 30.8% from the floor. The Bruins made only 5 three point baskets on 26% shooting. There was more iron clanging that in a blacksmith's shop. The Tide did manage to score 56 points. That's not many, but UCLA could put up only 50. It was a win, but not one for the ages. Hey, Alabama can't be picky at this point. The Tide moved to 9-3 with North Florida on stage Jan. 2, which will close out the pre-SEC schedule for the Tide. 10-3 is a world beater number compared to the total of 13 games the Tide won last season.North Florida has already beaten BIG 10 Purdue, so that game doesn't have cake walk in a box written on the outside.
If you read the posts of forums this morning you probably thought we lost. We didn't. You probably thought that Grant couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag. Yes and no, in my opinion on that one. My pregame post suggested the winner would do four things:
1. The Tide broke even on the boards and gave up only 9 offensive rebounds. That is more than you'd like, but they snared 8 themselves;
2. The Tide would make their free throws. They didn't but they did. The were only 18-30 which was far below their season average. UCLA made only 13. As C.M. Newton would remind us that the key stat is how many did we make and not how many did we miss. Credit to Ricky Tarrant for forcing the issue in the paint.
3. Shooting for both teams was abysmal. UCLA was more abysmal. Alabama knocked down one third of third shots. UCLA knocked down about a quarter of their attempts.
4. 'Bama had only 12 turnovers. Some where foolish, some came from hard effort, and a couple were just crazy. The Bruins were credited with 18 but most of their turnovers were self induced. You know what I mean? Dribbling the ball off your own foot, standing on an out of bounds line, lazy passes, and anything else from the Book of Turnover Disasters that coach preach from daily.
On balance the Tide won each of those four areas. I was proud of the rebounding effort in particular. The Tide also did some other good things:
a. The put two quick fouls on Parade High School All-American Kevon Looney. He sat most of the first half as a result. Because of that, the Bruins never got their offense on track. I bet they are tired of coming to the southeast to be embarrassed.
b. When it mattered most the Tide held their composure and made some free throws. Down the stretch they made 6-8 when they needed them.
c. They held Tony Parker, the interior banger for the Bruins, to only 10 points. Parker got some points in the second half when Taylor was on the bench. Last season he killed the Tide. I give the nod to Taylor this year.
d. The Tide played good switch defense on Alford when he needed to score. He put up one air ball and one brick in the last 45 seconds.
e. The boards were a draw, and 'Bama worked hard to get the really big ones down to the wire.
There was a lot of bad things as well. Some ill advised shots. The complete disappearance of Cooper on offense. But lost in his poor offensive showing was some tough rebounding and defense against Norman Powell, who is the Bruin's top player. He finished with only 3 points and was clearly upset with the Tide defense. I think it was interesting we won this game with Cooper scoring only 1 point. Way to much standing around on offense again.
You can only speculate why Grant left Taylor in the game after he got his third foul. When he picked up his forth file on the next trip down the floor, the Bruins were able to get the ball to Parker, who scored 4 baskets. It was questionable coaching to leave in a player who gets a lot of fouls. For those who find a lot of fault in Grant's game management you have your evidence. I also wondered why Riley Norris was on the pine the last ten minutes. Norris is a good player who seems to make things happen. It's also time to give him the green light to shoot more. He is a deadly shooter. For those who think he should replace Cooper I'd advise that he's not quite ready. Take Cooper's defense out of the game and we would have lost the game. Cooper and company cut the head off the pride of the UCLA floor game when they shut down Powell. At times those things get lost in the flow of a game. Kudos to Cooper for keeping up the hard inside play when his offense was missing.
Boy, did Grant ever slow the pace down. Fans go nuts when this happens. Here's my question - what exactly should he have done? The most effective way to minimize poor shooting is to take less shots. Try to get the foul line as often as possible, and take only good shots. Alabama shortened the game because of their poor offensive play. The poor offensive play was not the slow play. It was absolutely the best thing Grant could have done. It takes guts to minimize your shots in a tight game. Grant knew his team was solid on defense and wasn't giving up a lot of second shots. Great move by Grant, and I tip my hat to him regardless of the blow back. But coach, could you please not let Taylor and Kessens handle the ball 30 feet from the baskets. Only a couple of things can happen out there in the hinterlands and neither are good.
Had the Tide been shooting well early, on the game would have been over by halftime. The Tide could have folded late in the second half. They didn't. They sucked it up, stuck with the new game plan on offense and won. In the end that is all that matters, or should matter. It wasn't the game I expected to see, but it was the result I'd hoped for. Roll Tide.
