Alabama
South Carolina
Alabama Men’s Basketball Begins Home Stretch Tuesday Night Against South Carolina
1/8/2018 2:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Crimson Tide will play five of its next seven games at Coleman Coliseum
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will begin a stretch of playing five of its next seven games under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum when it welcomes the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday night. The contest will tip at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
THE BROADCAST
• Friday's game will air on SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) on the call.
• The radio broadcast can be found on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call, with the pregame show beginning at 5 p.m. CT on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
OPENING TIP
• The home contest on Tuesday night against South Carolina begins a stretch in which five of Alabama's next seven games will be played under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum.
• Alabama is one of the few teams in the nation that does not have a senior on its active roster. In fact, according to KenPom.com, the Crimson Tide ranks 348th out of 351 teams in terms of experience on its roster with an average of 0.81 years of experience.
• Tuesday will be the only meeting this season between the Gamecocks and the Tide. Last year, Alabama won at South Carolina in a quadruple overtime thriller, 90-86, on Feb. 7, 2017, and also captured a 64-53 win in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on March 10, 2017.
• Over its last six contests, the Tide has been one of the top free throw shooting teams in the nation. During the stretch, Alabama is shooting 80.3 percent (94-of-117) from the foul line, led by Collin Sexton who has hit 44 of his last 48 free throws (91.7 percent).
• Alabama will next travel to Baton Rouge, La., to square off against the LSU Tigers in the only meeting between the two teams this year. That contest will tip at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season with a 65-46 defeat at Georgia last Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide has not won back-to-back games since late November when it defeated UT Arlington (Nov. 21) and BYU (Nov. 24) in consecutive contests.
• Through its 15 contests, the Tide is averaging 74.9 points per game and outscoring the opposition by 4.3 points per contest (74.9-70.6). As a team, Alabama is connecting on 46.0 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from beyond the arc. Opponents our outrebounding the Tide, 36.9-37.4 (-0.5) per game. Additionally, Alabama is tied for second in the SEC and ranks 10th in the nation in blocked shots per game (6.3).
• In addition to blocking shots, the Alabama defense is allowing opponents to shoot 40.9 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from deep, while also averaging 6.9 steals a contest. Despite struggling at the foul line this season (shooting 68.6 percent on the year), the Tide leads the league in free throws attempted (363) and is fourth in free throws made (249). In fact, 22 percent of Alabama's point total (249 of 1,123 points) have come from the charity stripe.
• Four players are averaging double-figure scoring for the Tide, led by freshman Collin Sexton's 20.6 ppg. That number not only tops the team, but also leads the SEC and ranks 35th nationally. Sexton also tops the team in assists (3.4 apg) and field goals made (86) and attempted (184). Freshman John Petty ranks second on the team with 11.9 ppg and tops UA in threes made (41) and attempted (113), while his 2.7 treys made per game is tied for fourth-best in the SEC.
• Junior Donta Hall leads the Tide in field goal percentage (.742, 72-of-97), which would lead the country but he's just shy of meeting the minimum requirement of 5.0 or more field goals made per game (Hall is at 4.80 made per game). Hall also tops the team in dunks (33), rebounds (7.2 rpg) and blocks (2.4 bpg), while ranking third with 11.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Dazon Ingram, who missed the Georgia game with the flu, is averaging 11.1 ppg, and ranks second on the team in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and assists (3.0 apg) a game.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
• South Carolina is led by sixth-year head coach Frank Martin. Martin, who led the Gamecocks to a Final Four run last season, owns a record of 106-79 (.573) during his tenure with the Gamecocks and is 223-133 (.626) now in his 11th season as a head coach (spent five years at Kansas State).
• South Carolina and Alabama will meet for the 45th time in series history on Tuesday. The Tide owns an all-time record of 28-16 against the Gamecocks, including having won four of the last five meetings between the two teams.
• Junior Chris Silva tops the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg) coming into Tuesday night's contest. The 6-9, 223-pound forward also tops the team in field goal percentage (.522), blocked shots (20), field goals made (59) and free throws made (97) and attempted (127)
• Graduate transfer Frank Booker is the only other player to average double figures at 10.9 points per contest. Booker leads the squad in threes made (36) and attempted (86) and percentage (.419).
• Sophomore Malik Kotsar and freshman Justin Minaya are tied for third on the team in scoring average at 8.7 ppg. Kotsar tops the team in minutes per game (27.7) and ranks second in field goal percentage (.483) and blocked shots (13).
• As a team, South Carolina is outscoring the competition by 7.0 points per game (71.9-64-9) and owns a +6.7 advantage on the glass (38.8-32.1) coming into Tuesday night's contest. The Gamecocks are shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 33.2 percent from beyond the arc.
• South Carolina enters the contest at Alabama ranked second in the league in both scoring defense and defensive rebounds allowed to the opposition per game (32.1). The Gamecocks lead the league in conference games only in rebounding margin at +7.0 (38.7-31.7)
ALABAMA-south carolina – SERIES NOTES
• Alabama and South Carolina will meet for the 45th time overall, with the Crimson Tide owning a 28-16 edge in the series history.
• Last season, the Tide swept the Gamecocks beginning with a dramatic quadruple overtime victory, 90-86, at South Carolina on Feb. 7, 2017. Alabama then defeated USC, 64-53 in the quarterfinals of the 2017 SEC Tournament in Nashville. With that win, the Tide was the last team to defeat the Gamecocks before they went on a cinderella run through the NCAA Tournament all the way to the Final Four.
• Alabama enters the contest having won four of the last five games played between the two teams. The Tide has been even better at home, claiming wins in four straight games over USC in Coleman Coliseum and having won 14 of the 16 games played in Tuscaloosa in the series.
• The teams have met 35 times as SEC opponents with UA winning 21 of those meetings.
• Thirteen of the last 16 games between the teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points, including six coming down to just one possession.
• The series began during 1922-23 campaign.
REMEMBERING LAST YEAR'S QUADRUPLE OVERTIME THRILLER
• Alabama and South Carolina played an epic quadruple overtime contest in the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season a year ago (Feb. 7, 2017).
• The Crimson Tide escaped Columbia, S.C., with a 90-86 victory and in doing so, established some milestones. Below are some other notes that surrounded that contest:
- It was just the second quadruple overtime game in Alabama program history. The only game in which it took four extra periods to decide the outcome came on Feb. 12, 1972 vs. LSU. The Tide, which defeated the Tigers 103-99 in that contest, improves to 2-0 in such games.
- The contest featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes throughout. All but one lead change occurred at the end of regulation and in the four overtimes.
- Avery Johnson Jr. led Alabama with a career-high 23 points in the winning effort. Over the previous five contests, he had a combined 22 points.
- South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell finished with 44 points and 21 boards on the night. He was only the third collegiate Division I player to record a 40/20 game in the last 20 years (Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and Cleveland State's Norris Cole).
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