Tide falls 84-74 to Iowa State...

Tide plays hard but falls short in the end…

Cooper has a big night…

  

    Two Schools of Thought here: A lose is lose is lose. Nothing has changed from last season. That’s the way some fans will look at last night’s 84-74 game to Iowa State. Another way to look at the game is to say that Alabama played a road game against the number 13 or 14 team in the NCAA and hung tough. Statistically it was an interesting game.

·         Iowa State shot 58% from the floor. Alabama hit only 39%. C.M. Newton used to remind us that you have to look at the number of shots you took. Alabama took 20 more shots than Iowa State, and that kept the game in reach.

·         Bama got a minor hose job at the free throw line by 8, which is substantial but not a killer. The Tide made 10-13 which is very solid. Luckily, Jimmy Taylor didn’t shoot any for the night, but Shannon Hale was only 2-4.

·         The Tide got beat on the boards 34-31 but you can live with that. Where the Tide excelled off the glass was getting 9 offensive boards, and giving up only 2. That’s big time.

·         Personal fouls were pretty even. I thought a few fouls were missed by the refs which hurt Bama, but no felonies committed in my opinion. Bama had 20 fouls which is a few more than you would like to have. Honestly, we were so porous on defense at times we couldn’t catch up to foul.

·         Bama had only 9 turnovers. That is a big boy basketball, and considering this was a de facto road game, Grant love that number. We caused 15 and had 5 blocks. Three of those lead to change of possession.

·         Bama had 7 steals to the Cyclones steals. Our defense was pretty disruptive when Grant went zone in the second half and it caused Iowa State some problems. That ten minute period let us take the lead. We then switched back to man and that didn’t work out very well in my opinion.

·         Bama was down by 13 with a 3:26 left in the half. The Tide cut it to 6 at halftime. That impressed me. Randolph made a three, and the team didn’t fold its tent.

·         Hello Mr. Cooper!!!– Coop threw in 27 from a combination of power moves in the paint and some down town bombs. Cooper’s clutch shooting in the first 15 minutes of the second half gave Alabama a chance. Cooper doesn’t need to score that many every game, but he does need to give us a consistent 15. Maybe this game will put him over a slump.

·         The Tide’s inside game was missing in action. The only inside game was what Randolph and Cooper managed to bring on some gritty play to the hoop. Taylor had another hook shot and that looked good. He also had only 4 boards, but logged on 17 minutes. Kessens scored 2 points and had 2 boards. He did have some good defensive plays, and I believe he’ll get better after he gets his game feet back. He is very athletic. Not only is he adjusting to returning to play, he is getting accustomed to Division One hoops. Keep in mind he didn’t have the best competition to practice against last year.

·         Reggie Witherspoon has brought a little magic to the team with his offense. This offense is going to take away a little defense however. There is only so much energy to expend.

·         Kudos to Riley Norris. The freshman is giving up his offense to play harder defense. He was Bama’s leading rebounder despite logging in only 18 minutes. He also had a team leading 3 steals. Freshman Justin Coleman and Sophomore Shannon Hale each had 4 assists. The trio have the Tide a lot for underclassmen. Hale continues to expand his offense. He and Coleman opened up the Tide scoring by draining threes away from home.

·         Ricky Tarrant got only 19 minutes which was surprising to me. He hit a nice three, but he was forced to play a lot of his time when time was running down. He didn’t get the best shot selection. He did knock Thomas Matt with a hard drive in the second half. Cooper and Randolph seemed to have an easier time with some inside moves after that. Tarrant was charged with an offensive foul but at least he got his money’s worth.

      Summing up: The Tide played very well most of the games. We don’t have much of an inside game. When Taylor was off the floor the Cyclones got a lot of easy layups. Kessens isn’t moving his feet quick enough, but he is getting better. I think Michael may be the kind of player who plays better defense after he scores a few points. The talent is obviously there. He’s strong and smooth. Expect him to be a much better player when the Conference opens plays. Tonight the Tide takes on talented Arizona State. If Bama can play as well as they did last night I believe we can get out of KC with one win. Arizona State finished poorly by giving up 7 points late. Maryland pulled a win out of the proverbial rabbit hat.

 

Prediction:  Alabama 82 – Arizona State 77.