Crimson Tide Men's Basketball Opens 2016-17 Season
Defeats Coastal Carolina 70-53
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The 2016-17 basketball season is finally here, and it's starting of just great! The University of Alabama men's basketball team opened the new season with a 70-53 victory over Coastal Carolina last night in front of 14,579 fans at UA's Coleman Coliseum. By the end of the first half it was looking like a poor beginning to an expectant season after trailing by six points at the intermission, but the Crimson Tide raced forward with a 17-2 spurt in the opening minutes of the second half to then finally end the contest in fine fashion.
Leading the Tide with 15 points on the evening, Alabama senior guard Corban Collins pumped in 3-of-7 from beyond the arc as well as sinking all six of his free throws in last night's contest. He also contributed three assists without a turnover and a pair of steals. Right behind Collins was junior forward Riley Norris with 14 points. He was able to hit three from three-point range. Not lagging at all was redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram hitting all three of his three-pointers, finishing off the evening with 11 points, as well as with a team-best five assists and only one turnover.
After trailing by six at halftime 38-33, Alabama then turned on the boosters with 18:46 to play, using a 9-0 burst of offense to spark its 17-2 run that lasted nearly eight minutes. Voila, that deficit became a 50-40 lead. The Tide's defense was doing its job as well, holding Coastal Carolina to just nine points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Over the first six and a half minutes of the half, the boys from Bama shot an amazing 75 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range.
The Tide defense held the Chanticleers to just 1-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-13 from the floor over the opening eight minutes from the second half.
Last night the Alabama defense allowed the fewest points in a season-opener since 2011-12 when the Crimson Tide defeated North Florida, 64-44.
Alabama returns to action this Tuesday night, November 15th to host Dayton in Coleman Coliseum. Game time is set for 12:15 p.m. CT. The contest can be seen live on ESPN2 as a part of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon.
| Game Stats | CCU | UA |
|---|---|---|
| FG% | .274 | .438 |
| 3FG% | .391 | .385 |
| FT% | .625 | .692 |
| RB | 43 | 39 |
| TO | 13 | 11 |
| STL | 2 | 8 |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
See Alabama head coach Avery Johnson talk about the game on Tide TV by clicking on this link ---
http://www.rolltide.com/watch/?Archive=8388 (click link at left)
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Alabama Women Defeat New Orleans
In 2016-17 Basketball Season -Opener
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Jalen And The Tide Put The Hurts On Mississippi State
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Alabama Women Defeat New Orleans
In 2016-17 Basketball Season -Opener
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
How sweet it is!
Prior to the 70-53 victory the men's basketball team enjoyed in their home and season opener over Coastal Carolina, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide women's basketball team came away with a big season and home-opening win of their own by downing New Orleans 78-57 last night at Coleman Coliseum. Bama junior Meoshonti Knight and sophomore Shaquera Wade
combined for 34 points to pace the Tide.
"It was ugly at times, but ugly counts," said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry.
"It was great to get those first game jitters in this environment out
of our system. It certainly was a good experience for us tonight."
Three other Crimson Tide players joined Knight and Wade in double figures for the opening contest of 2016-17. Freshmen Ashley Knight put up 12 for Bama and Jordan Lewis added 11 points, followed by junior Ashley Williams with 10 points. Lewis led the Tide in rebounds with
eight in addition to four assists and four steals. Besides leading the team in points, Knight added a game-best five steals and tied with Lewis for a game-high four assists.
The Crimson Tide outscored New Orleans in the contest 48-16 in the paint as well as 18-0 in fast-break points. Alabama also won the battle of the boards 43-38 while forcing 22 Privateer turnovers.
Curry added, "I thought there were three really good things that we did the second
half. You come out and be 22 to 21 on the glass (at the
half) then to out-rebound them 43 to 38 (for the game). I thought we did a
very good job taking care of the basketball in the second half, and
then to have five players in double figures. I thought those were the
three categories that in the end really made the difference."
Next up for the Bama belles will be Mississippi Valley State paying a visit to Coleman Coliseum on Monday, November 14th. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT, and can be seen on SEC Network +.
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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Jalen And The Tide Put The Hurts On Mississippi State
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| Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
One might say this was a game to, well, just have fun. It's a game, after all. It really wasn't much of a contest - that's for sure.
The top-ranked team in the country showed why it sits atop every college football poll out there. The Alabama Crimson Tide put a real beat-down on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State this afternoon to the tune of 51-3 in front of a sellout crowd of 101,821 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was a record-setting day for the true freshman quarterback that just loves to put the Hurts on teams this season. Jalen Hurts was indeed the man today. Alabama improves to 10-0 overall, 7-0 in Southeastern Conference play while the Bulldogs fall to 4-6 overall, 2-4 in the SEC.
Jalen Hurts became the first player in Alabama football history to throw for a massive 300 yards-plus yards (347) and rush for 100 yards in the same contest. He was amazing. Also showing some amazing results was ArDarius Stewart, who was Hurts' primary target of the afternoon, and became the sixth player in Alabama football history to score on three passing/receiving touchdowns in the same game. Stewart ended the day with a whopping 156-yards on eight receptions.
Also getting in on the action was running back Josh Jacobs who picked up 89 yards on just nine rushes, averaging 9.9 yards per carry. Of course give credit to kicker Adam Griffith who nailed all three of his field goal attempts, and all coming in the first half. Griffith hit on 28, 30, and 39 yards on the day.
The Alabama offense rolled up 615 total yards of offense. Powerful. Mississippi State, however, manage to lay 274 yards on the Tide. Bama led in passing 397 yards to 180 for the Dogs. Rushing was very lop-sided, with the Tide rolling up 218 yards to 94 for Mississippi State. The Tide also won in the first-down department, 26-17.
And what more can be said about the Alabama defense? Mississippi State it would be as simple, or maybe even more simple, to simply go to the beach and try to hold back the tide, because they sure couldn't stop the Crimson Tide defense at all today. Okay, nearly at all - the Dogs did manage to sneak in a three-pointer on the day.
Get this. A total of 27 different players had at least one tackle in today's game, including six each from linebacker Reuben Foster, defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, linebacker Rashaan Evans and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. And talk about "sack city" - linebacker Ryan Anderson, linebacker Tim Williams and defensive tackle Raekwon Davis all posted big sacks that set the Mississippi State Bulldogs back a combined 29 yards.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban commented, "I think it was a team effort today. The offense controlled the tempo of the game, and the defense was able to get stops when they needed to. There was a couple bad field position situations early in the game with a turnover and a kickoff return that the defense went out on and got a stop, which was a real key to the game. I was just really proud of the way our guys competed in the game today and played in the game today."
Crimson Tide linebacker Reuben Foster said, ""We prepared right. The team loved the team, and the opponent was great too. We try to limit our mistakes and play hard. We try to please our coach."
Offensive lineman Pierschbacher said, ""We came out, executed, and everyone did their job. The coaches really challenged us this week to execute, and I think we did just that."
Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen had this to say about the Crimson Tide, "Alabama obviously has a great football team. As I said, they have great players from top to bottom. Their guys that aren't even on the field, can't get on the field, they'll probably start for most teams in the country. We knew that coming in, knew we had to play a great game. Just way too many mistakes early on for us, whether it's missed tackles, poor fits defensively, not setting an edge on the perimeter. You know, within a game plan you've got to try to stay balanced and take shots down the field. I think too many dropped passes with some shots down field. We had some opportunities to hit some and win some shots down field and missed those early in the game. But give them credit. They're an excellent football team, and, you know, there's a reason they're No. 1 in the country. They play like it. We've just got to move on and get ready for Arkansas."
The Crimson Tide is now 102-6 (.944) under Coach Saban when leading at the half. Alabama has now had the lead in 19 of its last 24 games, which dates back to the start of the 2015 season, including eight of the 10 games played this season.
| Game Stats | MS | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 274 | 615 |
| Pass Yards | 180 | 397 |
| Rushing Yards | 94 | 218 |
| Penalty Yards | 4-31 | 3-35 |
| 1st Downs | 17 | 26 |
| 3rd Downs | 7-20 | 7-13 |
| 4th Downs | 0-4 | 0-1 |
| TOP | 32:38 | 27:22 |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Gintrand, Moulin Sign With Alabama Women's Tennis
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| Photos Courtesy of Alabama Athletics |
Mainz said, "We are enthusiastic about the commitment from both Kim and Kylie to join our Alabama Family. We are excited about Kim's arrival in January and Kylies arrival in the Fall. Both Kim and Kylie represent the characteristics that are most important and are representative of our Alabama Team; strong character, integrity, get-after-it work ethic and team players. They both have much to contribute to the Crimson Tide and we are optimistic about the impact they will make on our Alabama Program."
Joining the Crimson Tide all the way from Angers, France, Gintrand, an incoming freshman, was able to reach a No. 1,063 Junior International Tennis Federation ranking at the age of 17 after appearing in a doubles final in Algeria and a semifinal in London. She also attained a top 10 French ranking for her age group.
Thus far in her career, Gintrand has compiled three singles wins and eight doubles victories on the ITF junior tour, as well as one recorded doubles win in the ITF Pro Circuit.
Moulin is scheduled to join the Tide in the fall of 2017. She is a five-star recruit who is currently ranked No. 41 nationally according to TennisRecruiting.net. Moulin is ranked in the top-10 in the state of Florida, and she is ranked in the top 15 in the southeastern region.
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Alabama Volleyball Faces Florida Tomorrow
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama volleyball team travels to Gainesville, Florida to take on the sixth-ranked Florida Gators tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT at the Lemerand Athletic Center. The Crimson Tide is 17-10 overall, 6-8 in SEC play while the Gators are 22-2, 12-1 SEC.
The Tide is enjoying a two-game conference winning streak, having defeated Arkansas at home this past Sunday before downing in-state rival Auburn on Wednesday. Bama is hoping to make it three consecutive wins by defeating one of the top teams in the country.
Alabama is 5-41 versus Florida, and has lost the last 24 consecutive matches to the Gators. The Crimson Tide suffered a 4-0 defeat at the last meeting back on September 25th.
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Avery Johnson, Bama Basketball Staff Sign Five For 2017
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| Alabama Men's Head Basketball Coach Avery Johnson Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
You could tell that Alabama men's head basketball coach Avery Johnson was very pleased picking up some highly-ranked new players for his improving ball club. There are now five 2017 signees for his second year at the helm of the Crimson Tide's basketball program. He was beaming when he spoke with the press. Both Scout.com and Rivals.com ranks the accomplishment as the number two recruiting class in the country, with 247Sports.com going as high as third in the nation. He made the official announcement yesterday.
The Crimson Tide's new additions are guards John Petty, Herb Jones and Collin Sexton, as well as forwards Alex Reese and Galin Smith. Get this, ALL are either four-star or five-star recruits. ALL were top-100 recruits. Petty, Jones and Reese were the top-3 recruits in Alabama, Sexton was tops in Georgia and of course Smith was the big man of Mississippi.
Smiling and clearly excited, Johnson said, "We're excited about this 2017 recruiting class. All
five of the players have signed their NLI with us, and I would like
to thank their families that have committed to us. I am extremely proud
of all of the hard work that our assistant coaches and all of our
auxiliary staff that has put into us having what we feel is the best
recruiting class in the University of Alabama men's basketball history.
Now obviously with a recruiting class, they have to come in and develop
and be coachable and learn, mature, grow and develop. We have to win
some games for it to really be a true, great recruiting class. Times of
Wimp Sanderson and C.M. Anderson, they had some terrific, high level,
pro-like players; we are trying to duplicate and imitate a lot of their
success in recruiting and hopefully their success on the court."
