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Alabama Basketball Wins Seasons Opener
Downs Kennesaw State 77-64
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
It was the largest crowd to see a home opener in Coleman Coliseum since 1989. A turnout of 14,970 saw the beginning of the Avery Johnson era for University of Alabama basket begin with a 77-64 victory over the Kennesaw State Owls last night. Head coach Avery Johnson, his new staff and the 2015-16 edition of Crimson Tide basketball begin the season 1-0, with more wins to come!
After the game, Johnson said, We are excited! We started the game off with a couple of key plays, fell off a little, but our guys fought. I am just are so
proud of them for that. But I just want to thank our fans! I heard this
was one of the largest crowds in a long time at the start of the season.
I just want to thank our fans and students and our season ticket
holders and administrators, just everybody for coming out tonight. I
heard we were the hottest ticket in town!"
The Crimson Tide led from the very beginning, and immediately showed the crowd they would put the ball up, going on a 19-4 run early in the contest. Alabama took an 11-point lead into the locker room, up 43-32 at the half.
Alabama's largest lead came shortly after the second half began, 52-35, before seeing the Owls post an eight-point run of it's own. State closed the game to seven points 56-49 but would never get any closer to Bama than that.
Leading the scoring last night for the Crimson Tide was senior Retin Obasohan with 18 points. Close behind, in his first career start for the Tide, was freshman Dazon Ingram pouring in 16, followed by Shannon Hale with 13.
Defensively Alabama was led by junior Jimmie Taylor with 10 rebounds, with Ingram second with six. Taylor and freshman Donta Hall both had two blocks. The Crimson Tide led in the number of points off turnovers, outscoring Kennesaw State 25-8. In the paint, the advantage also went to Bama 48-12.
It was good to see excitement both in the stands and on the court inside Coleman Coliseum last night. Concerning his teams enthusiasm, Johnson said, "Yes, they were enthusiastic. You know we were just trying to get up and down the floor. They had a tough time guarding little man (Yonel Brown) all night, but our guys fought back. We overcame some adversity and a lot of guys contributed to our win tonight. We are going to shoot three-point shots now, but we are not going to shoot for 4-of-17 from three all year, especially now that we are widening our shots, so I have a lot of confidence in our guys playing the way they did."
Next up for the Crimson Tide roundballers will be a televised contest as Bama takes a road trip to do battle with Dayton on Tuesday. The came will be available on ESPN at noon CT.
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
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Crimson Tide Women's Basketball Impressive
Annihilate Alabama A&M 96-44
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Total domination. The University of Alabama women's basketball team opened the 2015-16 season by annihilating Alabama A&M 96-44 last night inside Coleman Coliseum. It was the largest win for the program since a 49-point victory over Alabama State, 80-31, back in 2010. Bama had seven players score in double figures in last night's contest.
Bama women's head coach Kristy Curry said, "I'm really proud of our kids. We got off to a great start. We played really hard and had a lot of different folks contribute again. We had seven players in double figures. I liked our fast pace and the way we spaced the floor. Good things happened. It's not so much about who we're playing. It's not so much about the score. It's how we need to play, and I really liked the way we played today. I appreciate the crowd. I appreciate everyone coming out early. We hope to see everyone Monday night."
Leading the scoring for the Tide was sophomore Quanetria Bolton with a career-high 19 points. She also recorded her first-ever double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds on the evening. Sophomore Karyla Middlebrook was next high-scorer with 15 points and six rebounds, as well as handing out five assists on the night. Right behind her in scoring was sophomore Hannah Cook with 14 points, followed by senior Khadijah Carter with 13. Also scoring in double-digits with 10 points each were sophomore Meoshonti Knight, freshman C'Coriea Foy and freshman Shaquera Wade.
Defensively the Crimson Tide finished the night 14 blocked shots, with sophomore Diamante Martinez leading the way with six. This ties her for third in the Bama record books. (By halftime Bama had forced 18 turnovers while blocking seven shots.)
Alabama shot 43.6 percent on the afternoon, hitting 34 of 78, while holding the Bulldogs to just 27.1 percent. Bama forced 28 turnovers and collected 52 rebounds in the contest.
The Lady Tide hosts Appalachian State this Monday night in Foster Auditorium. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
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Alabama Football
Alabama -Mississippi State Today
This second-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide meets the 17th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. CT. The contest is taking place at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, Mississippi. The Tide is favored by eight points, and to say this is a must-win is an understatement. At stake is the lead in the SEC West lead, a Southeastern Conference Championship and a place in the college football playoffs at season's end.
Alabama quarterback Jake Coker, running back Derrick Henry and the Crimson Tide's arsenal of receivers and vastly improved offensive line are facing a stout Mississippi State front that is tied for eighth nationally. They average just over eight tackles-for-loss per game, so the Tide front will have to be on point today.
Given the ball enough times today, Henry is sure to rush once again for over 100 yards to continue his streak. In a poll just completed by ESPN of active Heisman voters, Henry is receiving 48 percent of the number one votes. Projected finish in the balloting, if done today, would be Henry first, Leonard Fournette second, Corey Coleman third and Christian McCaffrey third. Henry will, indeed, make a difference in this game today.
The Alabama defense will be tested today by State quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott is proficient as both a passer and a runner. He has completed 66.7 percent of his passes, putting up 18 touchdowns against just one interception. He's averaging 261 yards a game passing, and is the team's leading rusher with 418 yards and seven touchdowns.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban said on Thursday night during his radio show, "Hey Coach" that the youngster is very good at scrambling to throw the ball. He also commented that State coach Dan Mullen has designed plays for the quarterback to run, and most of Prescott's rushing yards are on those designed plays.
Talking about his quarterback, Mullen said he "doesn't panic." He said Prescott's knows his read progressions and sticks to them. He'll take a sack before putting the ball up for grabs according to Mullen. "He'll throw it away when he needs to. He'll check it down when he needs to. We'll call a bunch of shot plays, and if it's not there he's not going to force the ball down the field. He just manages the game so much better this year than he has in year's past."
Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy calls Prescott, "one of the best players in the country at any position." He later said Dak Prescott was the "best quarterback in the country" in his opinion. He also spoke of how good State is overall, and stands a very good chance of beating Bama at home.
Tim Tebow this morning said that Dak would have to come through and get the ball to his receivers when they have Alabama on one on one coverage, "when Alabama messes up" on coverage and then do not force the football. "You do those three things, and Mississippi State has a chance to win," Tebow said.
McElroy says the Alabama defense must win the game for Alabama
Paul Finebaum said if State doen't "this this one, when are they going to beat Alabama?"
Marcus Spears with the SEC Network says that for State to have a chance, then Chris Jones will have to play 100 percent on defense. He must be physical. He must be a force in stopping Henry.
If Coker has time against the State pass rush he will complete some passes for Bama. Of course with Henry getting significant touches and a pounding ground game it should open up the passing game when needed.
There is no doubt when Alabama is "on", they are on. And Bama has done well in away games. Many have been concerned about a "hangover" in today's contest. The Tide has plenty of reasons to be up. So much is at stake...for both programs. Addressing the hangover issue following the LSU game, Saban said if this team were ordinary they'd have a hangover after coming off such a big win. He said he told the team they'd have to extraordinary this week managing the game and expectations. He said they'd had a good week of practice and that hopefully it would work out well.
Alabama can beat any team in the country when playing their game, concentrating and executing. There is no doubt the Crimson Tide is the better team.
Tim Tebow, Marcus Spears, Greg McElroy and Paul Finebaum all pick Alabama over Mississippi State from SEC Nation this morning.
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Reggie Ragland Finalist For Senior CLASS Award
Reggie Ragland
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
University of Alabama linebacker and defensive captain Reggie Ragland is up for another honor. Ragland is one of 10 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision student-athletes chosen as finalists for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award. CLASS stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. The award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their respective platforms in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the away, the student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I FBS senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
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Tide Women's Tennis Inks Two
Jones & Pothoff
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The University of Alabama tennis team announced yesterday they have landed two of the nation's top recruits for 2016 in Makenna Jones from Greenville, South Carolina and Madison Pothoff out of Tucson, Arizona.
Tide head coach Jenny Mainz said yesterday, "We're thrilled about Makenna and Maddie joining our Alabama family. This is an exciting time for our program as we just took a big step forward with their commitments. Both Maddie and Makenna bring a wealth of experience to our program. We're optimistic that they both will be integral parts of our program and take Bama to new heights."
Jones is currently ranked 16th in the nation and fourth in the region according to TennisRecruiting.net. Pothoff is ranked 20th overall and seventh in the Southwest.
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Men's Tennis Wins Eight
The Alabama men's tennis team opened the CCB Collegiate Invitational yesterday taking eight wins at The Country Club of Birmingham.
Junior Hayes Brewer and redshirt freshman Langford Hills won their opening match of the day over a duo from Lousiville, then followed that up with a win over the pair from Samford. Danny Kerznerman and Sam Edwards opened with wins over the pair from Southern Miss, and then taking down the representatives from LSU and Texas.
Though Spencer Richey and Matthew Rossous lost their opener to UAB, they rebounded with a win over the pair from MTSU.
There were three other wins for the Tide. They came by way of Kerznerman, Richey and Edwards.
Play continues this morning with the final round of doubles and two rounds of singles.
