Randolph
rips the Sun Devils...
Tarrant knocks down 21
Tide finishes with great effort to
secure the win
 |
| Randolph brings Tide back |
Levi
Randolph dropped in 28 points, many at crucial times, to lead the Tide to a
come from behind 76-71 victory over Arizona State. Randolph scored 14 off his
points late in the game to give Alabama a much needed win on the road back to respect in the SEC. Arizona State was an NCAA tournament team last season, and
many experts expect them to be selected again. The Alabama senior took over the
game when 'Bama fell behind by 9 early in the second half. Alabama's Ricky
Tarrant scored his career high of 21 as a Crimson Tider. The outside shooting
of Randolph and Tarrant made up for a weak inside game by the
front court.
Randolph's emergence at a scorer was unexpected, but much
needed. His leadership qualities have helped Alabama to a 4-1 record. Ricky
Tarrant came to Alabama from Tulane with a reputation of a gunner. He's not
shy. He has a scorers mentality. His outside shooting is great, but when coupled with the ability to take the ball inside to the basket, makes him hard to
predict, and harder to stop. I believe at some point this season we may see
some prolonged minutes with Randolph, Coleman, and Tarrant on the floor.
Alabama's guard play was the difference. Alabama's floor movement and spacing
was excellent, and it made a difference in finding good shots. Despite the fact
of good ball movement the Tide had only 6 assists. One reason is Tide players
were finding open shots by themselves. Justin Coleman only played 16 minutes
and that held the assists down. The post players scored only 2 points. Taylor
also had 3 turnovers. Kessens wasn't factor.
 |
| Tarrant scores 21 |
The Tide committed only 9 turnovers which
will help win a lot of games. The boards were essentially even. This was a step
in the right direction. Alabama could have lost, but Randolph stepped up for
some big time baskets. Ricky Tarrant did the same. Rodney Cooper scored six and
had four boards but he helped cool of Gerry Blakes. Blake had 21 to lead the
Sun Devils but Cooper slowed him down in the last 10 minutes. Grant praised his
team for a gritty effort and not giving in to adversity. Fans seem to be really
high on this team. It's early and making predictions would be difficult to
make. But the one thing the Tide has done is give the win starved fan base some
hope. With three big time games remaining on the pre-SEC season, wins could really catapult Bama in the polls and with the selection committee. Xavier, UCLA, and Wichita State are tough
games. Something tells me this team has no back down at all. You are going to
have to play well to beat this season's Crimson Tide. And better play hard because Alabama will
No comments:
Post a Comment