Bama Men's Basketball Bests LSU
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Alabama now improves to 16-10, 9-5 Southeastern Conference, one win better in SEC play than head coach Avery Johnson's first year this past season.
Johnson commented, "It was an exciting game for us [yesterday]. This was probably one of our most complete performances, especially in SEC play. For us to come out and shoot the ball as well as we did in the first half, play a type of defense we've been playing all year, it was great. I'm proud of our guys. I'm a guy who really likes the small details of a game. We weren't perfect, obviously, but they should be commended on both sides of the floor."
Recording his first double-double with Bama was graduate senior Bola Olaniyan finishing the night with 11 points and a career-high-tying 16 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass. Leading Alabama in scoring with 17 points was junior guard/forward Riley Norris, followed by junior guard Ar'Mond Davis with 15 points. Braxton Key and Jimmie Taylor also added 11points each to complete the double-digit scoring for Bama.
"We have a lot of guys that I can talk about tonight, but Bola was huge for us," Johnson said. "There is no coincidence since his arrival how our rebounding numbers have improved and where we rank now both in the SEC and the country in rebounding. We saw that on both sides of the ball he can be pretty imposing. So, Bola was big for us [last night], Riley made some shots, Ar'Mond was a huge lift off the bench; everybody contributed. I'm proud of our guys, but I cannot wait to get back to practice."
The Crimson Tide ended the night with a season-high 20 assists and a season-low 10 turnovers. The Bama defense forced 15 turnovers while recording seven steals, finishing the contest with 21 points off turnovers compared to LSU's nine. The Bama bench once again outscored its counterparts 34-14.
Next for Alabama is Georgia, returning to Coleman Coliseum on Thursday. Tip time is 6 p.m. CT, with the game being broadcast on ESPN2.
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Alabama Softball
Fourth-Ranked Crimson Tide Split With Ragin' Cajuns
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| University of Alabama softball Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Crimson Tide bats were good enough for the 3-0 shutout in the first half, but the Alabama (7-1) offense couldn't get on track and the defense shut down in the game two 11-2 loss. Between the two contest, the Tide's Bailey Hemphill, a Lafayette native incidentally, was three-of-five at the plate while Merris Schroder hit a pair of doubles and Marisa Runyon contributed two RBIs.
Game one winning pitcher was Alabama's Alexis Osorio (4-0). The game two loss is credited to Madi Moore (1-1).
The third game of the series is set for 1 p.m. CT this afternoon.
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Alabama Swimming & Diving Has A Big Night
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee - No doubt Saturday night was huge for the University of Alabama swimming and diving teams. The Crimson Tide closed the 2017 Southeastern Conference
Championships with a pair of individual titles and four school records. The competition was being held in the Allan Jones Aquatic Center on the
University of Tennessee campus.
University of Alabama head swimming and diving coach Dennis Pursley said, "It was a great last day for us. We'd hoped to have this kind of day all week, but we got off to a
little bit of a slow start at the first, but we talked all week about
finishing strong and we certainly did that."
Alabama senior Anton McKee took his second SEC 200 breaststroke title with a time of 1:52.22. McKee won his first SEC title in 2014 as a freshman. Fellow senior Pavel Romanov was 12th in the 200 breaststroke coming in at 1:56.94. Senior Szymmy Day was 21st with a 1:59.53 time.
Pursley commented, "It was real nice to see Anton come back from winning his freshman year to now winning as senior.
Overall, the Crimson Tide men finished fourth with 897 points while the women finished 10th with 464 points.
Bama finished off Saturday night with school records in the men's and women's 400 freestyle relays. Tide freshman Zane Waddell, sophomore Robert Howard, Reid and sophomore Laurent Bams came in second with a time of 2:49.68. In the women's race, it was junior Temarie Tomley, junior Lindsay Morrow, junior Hannah Musser and junior Bailey Scott teaming up for a time of 3:17.98 to take eighth place.
"Everybody kind of got in on the action tonight and it was real exciting finish for us," Pursley stated.
Bams took fourth in the men's 100 freestyle with a time of 42.75, while Howard was seventh with a 42.96. Waddell won the B final of the 100, taking ninth overall, with a career-best 42.30. This makes Waddell second all-time at Alabama. Senior Alex Gray took second in the C final, and 18th overall, with a time of 43.58.
Crimson Tide junior Mia Nonnenberg finished sixth in the 1,650 freestyle with a 16:13.60. Senior Brent Sagert finished eighth in the men's platform event with 374.60 points.
Scott won the B final of the 100 freestyle with a school-record 48.48, taking ninth overall. Tomley also scored in the 100 freestyle with a 49.40 to finish 13th.
Senior Bridget Blood was 14th in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:11.72 while sophomore Marian Yurchishin took 23rd-place with a 2:14.56.
In the men's mile, it was freshman Daniel Kober finishing 16th with a time of 15:07.38. That time mad Kober the ninth-fastest miler in Alabama history. Senior Jack Hadjiconstantinou took 19th in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 15:14.52.
Sophomore Katie Coughlin took 22nd in the 200 backstroke (1:57.74), while freshman Kacey Oberlander (1:58.21) came in 23rd.
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Bama Baseball Blasts Presbyterian 8-1
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Goff said, "I was really pleased with the way these guys came out [last night] after an opening-night win. Sometimes teams get complacent, and I thought [Saturday night] our guys really came out and played harder and did a great job playing with a lot of energy and competing for 27 outs. It was a tremendous team win [last night]."
Jake Walters took his first win of the season, striking out seven total batters across his 6.0 innings. The junior limited the Blue Hose bats to just three hits on 75 pitches before handing the ball off to his bullpen.
Alabama is looking to sweep Presbyterian this afternoon with a win. The Crimson Tide will start sophomore left-hander Dylan Duarte. Presbyterian will counter with a left-handed senior Hayden Deal. First pitch 1 p.m. CT.
