No. 5 Alabama will look to build on good Southeastern Conference play when it takes on South Carolina on Wednesday in Columbia, SC.
The Crimson Tide (12-2, 1-0 SEC) couldn’t have played much better than they did during the playoffs 107-79 at then-No. 12 Oklahoma on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Gamecocks (10-4, 0-1) would like to put their conference opener behind them after Saturday’s poor performance. They were crushed 85-50 by then-No. 17 Mississippi State.
Alabama has won nine games in a row against South Carolina.
Alabama’s win Saturday was its fourth this season over a ranked opponent. The Crimson Tide’s three previous wins came in non-conference games against Illinois, Houston and North Carolina.
“That non-conference schedule showed us our weaknesses, and we were able to capitalize on that in practice,” Alabama guard Mark Sears said after Saturday’s win.
Sears continues to be the sponsor of the Crimson Tide team, which will enter the tournament on Wednesday with a six-game winning streak. Sears, who had 22 points and 10 assists against the Sooners, is averaging a team-best 18.3 points and 4.4 assists per game this season.
Alabama scored 100 or more points in a game for the 14th time in the past two seasons, the most in the nation over that span. The Crimson Tide enters this week leading the nation in scoring average (91.1 points per game) but has allowed 77.4 points, which is 313rd.
“We know how to be a great defensive team,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said after the Oklahoma game. “I still think there’s a lot of chemistry to consider.”
South Carolina snapped a seven-game winning streak against Mississippi State, and the Gamecocks’ scoring output was a season-low and 16 points below their previous low after shooting just 29.1 percent from the field and going 2-for-2. 19 only. from 3-point range.
But the biggest concern of South Carolina coach Lamont Paris was his team’s lack of fight early on.
The Gamecocks were held to 10 points in the first 14-plus minutes of the game and trailed four minutes into the second half.
“We’re going to show a lot of things on film when we see it, just situations where you go against that guy,” Paris said after the loss. “Skill is kind of, kind of matters, but who you are as an opponent is really important in that one moment. And how many of those were in the game, we got the short end of the stick in those situations. So it was. It’s amazing.”
Zachary Davis scored 22 points against the Bulldogs, but the Gamecocks’ leading scorer this season, Collin Murray-Boyles (15.8 points per game), will try to bounce back after being held to five points.
Murray-Boyles was a force on the glass at South Carolina, averaging 9.4 rebounds per game. He figures to battle Alabama’s Grant Nelson (8.8) in the paint.
“We’ve got 17 more games, and it’s going to be a lot of games like that,” South Carolina forward Nick Pringle said. “So we have to raise our game a lot to be able to host all the upcoming games.”
–Field Level Media