Tide Rallies in the Second Half to Sweep the Razorbacks
Alabama's No. 2 ranked basketball team went toe to toe with a finally healthy Arkansas Razorback squad in Coleman Coliseum and managed a come-from-behind 86-83 victory.
With a whopping 32 NBA scouts in attendance, Alabama and Arkansas played one of the best games of the NCAA regular season, treating fans to physical defense and hard-fought paint points throughout the afternoon.
Things got off to a rocky start for the Tide. Alabama has struggled against physical defenses and teams that press out to defend the three-point shot all season, and the first half of this game was no different. The Tide went to the locker room down 37-28 despite charting plenty of blue collar points with 22 rebounds.
Brandon Miller was limited to seven points in the first half and was the leading scorer.
The second half was a totally different ball game. The Tide came out firing on all cylinders. They quickly cut the deficit to just a couple of points before Arkansas' offense began to pick up as well.
Just before the 14-minute mark of the second half, the Tide took its first lead since the 7:30 mark of the first with a layup from Brandon Miller off a fast break. From there, the Tide built a 10-point lead and never looked back.
The bench depth won the game for the Tide, as has been common-place this season. While Miller continued his season-long run of dominance with 24 points, Jahvon Quinerly put up 16 points and seven assists in his 28 minutes off the bench.
"I thought when Quinerly came in, you know, he played a lot more in the second half, he's able to move a little quicker, got downhill, was able to get the ball up on the rim a little quicker, finished at the rim well," said Oats after the game. "He got some assists, found guys, spread it out. He didn't make a ton of threes but he was able to make a little bit better rim decisions."
Nick Pringle also shined in the win. He stepped in for Charles Bediako multiple times, including late in the game as Arkansas was trying to rally and Bediako was in foul trouble and the waning seconds when he fouled out entirely. In that time, he did a good job of helping the offense move the ball cleanly and played excellent defense, pulling down four boards on that side of the court. He also had seven points.
As one could have expected after watching the first half, Alabama had to win this game in the paint, and the team did not shy away from that. Three-point shots fell at a near season-low clip (3-22), but the Tide did a great job of getting points at the rim. The team had 15 second-chance points and scored 60% of its points in the paint to Arkansas' 46%. Overall, Alabama scored 58% of the paint points scored today.
Defensively, Alabama dominated despite giving up 83 points. The team forced Arkansas into tons of bad shots from directly underneath the hoop and dominated the defensive glass. The Tide pulled down 34 defensive boards, swatted four shots, and stole six possessions from the Razorbacks while also contributing to 11 unforced turnovers.
Perhaps more important than anyone in the final minutes was transfer star Mark Sears. When Arkansas started fouling out of desperation with under 90 seconds to play, Sears was the Razorbacks' target three times in a row. He sank all six free-throws that came from that, helping secure the three-point victory. Overall, the team went 25-30 from the charity stripe with three players going 100%.
The Tide's work is not done yet. In order to secure at least a portion of the SEC regular season championship, Alabama must take down Auburn in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday, March 1. No matter how down of a year it is for the Tigers, the team will need to come prepared for a rivalry game as intense as the Iron Bowl of Basketball.