Nov. 19, 2008

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama men's basketball team (1-1) jumped on Florida A&M (0-3) from the beginning with an 18-0 run to start the game and never looked back on its way to an 89-48 victory at Coleman Coliseum Wednesday night. The Tide shot 50 percent from the field compared to 32 percent for Florida A&M and held the Rattlers without a three-point field goal in the game.

The Tide came out hot led by senior Ronald Steele who scored eight of his game-high 15 points in the first five minutes. Steele drained two threes and freshman JaMychal Green added two dunks during Alabama's initial 18-0 push. Green finished with twelve points and eight rebounds giving him consecutive double figure scoring games to open his career at Alabama.

"I thought it was really important for us to come out and play well," Steele said. "Now we need to get ready for the competition we're going to see (in Hawaii). We were really disappointed in the loss, but I feel like we responded really well."

The Tide got big contributions from the bench led by junior transfer Anthony Brock who scored 13 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting performance that included three three-pointers. Sophomore Mikhail Torrance added 11 points and freshman Andrew Steele, younger brother of Ronald Steele, chipped in with 10.

After a poor performance on the boards in the season opener against Mercer, the Tide out-rebounded Florida A&M 49-34 Wednesday night. Sophomore Justin Knox led Alabama's effort on the glass with 12 rebounds. On defense, Knox and Green led the Tide with three blocks apiece and Brock came up with a game-high four steals.

Alabama knocked down 9-16 shots from beyond the arc while stifling Florida A&M from deep as the Rattlers finished 0-20 on threes. The Tide converted 16-17 free throws compared to 4-11 for Florida A&M.

"There are certain things during the game that you want to work on and get better, and the first thing is obviously our defensive intensity and rebounding," head coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought we did a good job tonight defending them and holding them to one shot. Offensively we were a different team tonight than we've been this season. We moved the ball better; we turned down shots and got better shots."

Knox tipped in an errant shot at the halftime buzzer to give the Tide a 55-23 lead at the break. Alabama shot 55 percent from the field and knocked down a perfect 11-11 from the foul line before intermission. Florida A&M missed their first 11 attempts from the field on the way to shooting 26 percent in the half.

Torrance scored all 11 of his points in the first frame on 5-5 shooting to lead the Tide. Steele and Green also reached double figures before halftime with 10 points apiece.

Larry Jackson led Florida A&M with 12 points and was the only Rattler to reach double figures. Yannick Crowder grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and added eight points for Florida A&M.

Alabama hits the road for the first time this season for its next contest, traveling to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. The Tide will face Oregon in the first round on Monday, Nov. 24 with tip-off slated for 11 p.m. CT.