Friday, March 10, 2017

Bama Downs Mississippi State; Tide Press Conference Following SEC Win Over Mississippi State; Alabama Men's Basketball Beats South Carolina In SEC Tournament Today; Crimson Tide Men's Tennis Falls To Mississippi State; Senior Night For Alabama Gymnastics; Crimson Tide Baseball Defeats Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Alabama Baseball Post-Game Press Conference




Crimson Tide Men's Basketball Rolls
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Downs Mississippi State 75-55 In SEC Tournament


Photo Credit: UA Athletics


NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Following an opening bye, the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team won its opening game of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Tournament 75-55 over the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena. Leading the Tide was redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram racking up 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting from the field. Bama senior Corban Collins came off the bench adding another 14 points, pumping in four three-pointers in the effort.

Defensively the Crimson Tide forced three turnovers before the first media timeout, then held the Bulldogs scoreless for two-plus minutes twice in the first half. Alabama held a 21-11 lead with just under nine minutes, then extended the lead 34-22 at halftime.

Alabama put on a big 18-0 run in the second half to put the game on ice. The Tide led by as many as 30 points before settling in for the 20-point win. The offense was on yesterday, not only shooting but also holding onto the ball, only turning it over twice in the first half, the lowest total in a half all season. Bama held the Dogs to just 33 percent shooting while making 46 percent of its attempts from the field.

All-in-all the Crimson Tide finished with a season-low nine turnovers in the contest and held its opponent to a season-low six free throw attempts.  With the win, Alabama has defeated Mississippi State three times this season, marking the first time Alabama has claimed three wins over the Bulldogs in a single season since 1985-86, and 12 of the last 15 games played between the two teams.

Alabama now advances to battle the fourth-seed South Carolina Gamecocks this afternoon. The last time these two met resulted in a quadruple Tide  overtime victory over the Gamecocks on February 7th in Columbia, South Carolina. The game will begin 25 minutes after the end of the day's first game at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.



Team Statistics
Game Stats  MS   UA
FG%  .391   .472
3FG%  .167   .500
FT%  .500   .654
RB  38   36
TO  12   9
STL  5   4


Photo Credit: UA Athletics

Photo Credit: UA Athletics

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Alabama Press Conference Following 
Southeastern Conference Win Over Mississippi State


Click HERE to watch post-game press conference via Tide TV

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Alabama Men's Basketball Beats South Carolina
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Tide Faces Wildcats Tomorrow At Noon


Photo Credit: UA Athletics


NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Braxton Key was key today in Alabama's big win over the South Carolina Gamecocks 64-63 in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Key scored 18 points to lead the Tide, followed by Riley Norris pumping in 12 points himself. Bama closed out the final 2:54 of the contest today with a 10-0 run, giving UA it's second win of the season over the Gamecocks. The previous contest went into 4 overtimes.

Both teams struggled offensively during big chunks of the game, yet came up with scoring spurts, especially the Tide. The two teams combined were a lowly 2-of-10 in shooting in just over 4 1/2 minutes of the game. South Carolina was 4:39 at one point without scoring, but Bama was only a minute behind with a 3:32 scoring drought.

Alabama will face Kentucky tomorrow at noon CT in the semifinals on ESPN.

*updates to follow*


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Crimson Tide Men's Tennis Falls To Mississippi State


Photo Credit: UA Athletics


STARKVILLE, Mississippi - Bama's trip to Starkville wasn't what it hoped. The University of Alabama men's tennis team fell 5-2 to 16th-ranked Mississippi State on Thursday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The Crimson Tide now drops to 6-9 overall, 0-3 SEC. The Bulldogs improve to 11-3 on the season, 2-0 SEC.

Alabama continues its road trip for its second match of the weekend when it heads to the Plains to take on the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. The match is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT start time.


RESULTS:

Doubles
1. No. 48 Braun/Foshey (MSU) defeated No. 66 Osama/Richey (UA) 6-3
2. Nesterov/Ortiz (UA) vs. Cutura/Hunter (MSU) 4-4, unfinished
3. Borges/Rakic (MSU) defeated Cancel/Zhou (UA) 6-3

Singles
1. No. 41 Mazen Osama (UA) def. No. 4 Nuno Borges (MSU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
2. No. 103 Thibault Cancel  (UA) defeated Strahinja Rakic (MSU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Mate Cutura (MSU) defeated Edson Ortiz (UA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Giovanni Oradini (MSU) defeated Alexey Nesterov (UA) 6-1, 7-6(4)
5. Niclas Braun (MSU) defeated Spencer Richey (UA) 7-5, 6-1
6. Trevor Foshey (MSU) defeated Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-0, 7-6(6)


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It's Senior Night!
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Crimson Tide Gymnastics Hosts Iowa State Tonight


Bama Beauties
Photo Credit: UA Athletics


TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – It's the last home meet for the seniors of the Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics team tonight. The sixth-ranked Tide will hold its annual senior night tonight when it hosts the Iowa State Cyclones in Coleman Coliseum. Tonight's 7:30 p.m. CT contest will close out UA's regular season and its 2017 home schedule as well.

UA gymnastics head coach Dana Duckworth said, "This meet is as important as any we've had to this point, because it is our last chance to prepare for next week's Southeastern Conference Championships. It's also a home meet, and there's nothing better than an Alabama gymnastics Friday night in Coleman Coliseum."

With tonight being Senior Night at Coleman, the Tide will being honoring its seniors during the introductions, scheduled to get underway about 7:10 a.m. CT. Along with manager Grey Buxton and Blake Sellers, as well as former gymnast and current multimedia specialist Dominique Page, Bama will be recognizing senior gymnasts Katie Bailey, Amanda Jetter, Keely McNeer, Mary Lillian Sanders, Aja Sims and Mackenzie Valentin.

Alabama's NCAA champion Katie Bailey commented, "We're really excited to be at home, especially the seniors. This is our last chance to compete in Coleman in front of our amazing fans, so that makes it extra special for us."

This Crimson Tide class of seniors have captured two Southeastern Conference titles (2014 and 2015) as well as three NCAA regional titles (2014, 2015 and 2016). They have also earned three top-four NCAA Championships finishes, including a third-place finish in 2016.

Tonight will also be featuring Big Al's Carnival, with pre-meet activities for kids located on the concourse as soon as doors open at 5:30 p.m. Members of Big Al's Kids Club get free admission with their Kids Club membership card.

Also taking place tonight during the Alabama-Iowa State meet, as part of Duckworth's ReadBAMARead literacy initiative, American Christian Academy will receive a check for $1,000 worth of library books for their school after winning the ReadBAMARead contest during the Boise State meet.

In line with ReadBAMARead's goals, tonight will be Academic Achievement Night in Coleman Coliseum. City and county schools have distributed vouchers to all eligible students that can be redeemed online or in person at the Alabama Ticket Office for admission for two people to tonight's contest. More information is available online at RollTide.com/achieve.

Another added bonus, just prior to the meet, Baylee Smith, Miss Alabama 2017, and famed author Kari Kampakis will be signing autographs on the concourse from 6-7 p.m.

"It's going to an amazing, action-packed meet," Duckworth said. "Start your spring break with us [tonight] in Coleman Coliseum."



Alabama Gymnastics Head Coach Dana Duckworth
Photo Credit: UA Athletics

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Crimson Tide Baseball Defeats Arkansas-Pine Bluff


Photo Credit: UA Athletic


TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – It was a fight, but in the end the University of Alabama baseball team pulled out a 6-5 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Thursday evening. The win was the Crimson Tide's fourth consecutive,  and moved the UA men to 7-5 overall record.

Alabama baseball head coach Greg Goff showed his pride in his team as he commented, "I'm really proud of how our guys stayed in there tonight. We thought it was over, and it wasn't. It's always good to win those kinds of games whenever you find a way to finish it out. I'm glad we had Davis Vainer in the back end of that thing."

Crimson Tide freshman pitcher Garret Rukes opened last night's game really strong, with the lefty throwing a career-high 4.2 innings while allowing two runs on four hits along with a career-high four strikeouts. Rukes then turned over the pitching duties to Garrett Suchey (1-1) who picked up the win with a career-high 4.0 innings of work. Suchey allowed three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out a career-high six batters. Eventually running into some problems in the ninth inning, the junior then handed the ball over to Davis Vainer to deliver the game's final out, a strikeout on top of it all. Vainer has been credited with his second save of the season.

Bama's Chandler Avant was two-for-four with one run. Both Hunter Alexander and Cody Henry stepped up with a two-for-three night with one run, two RBIs. Kyle Kaufman was one-for-two with one RBI on the night.

The two teams will butt heads again this evening at 6 p.m. CT for the second contest of this four-game series.


Photo Credit: UA Athletics


Photo Credit: UA Athletics


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Alabama Baseball Post-Game Press Conference


Click HERE to watch press conference via Tide TV