TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – One other sport and one other sensational efficiency by Brandon Miller.
After setting a brand new career-high towards South Carolina on Wednesday, the freshman ahead adopted it up with a game-high 24 factors in No. 2 Alabama’s 86-83 win over Arkansas. The win helps Alabama get a step nearer to the share of the SEC regular-season title needing one other win and a Texas A&M loss to say sole possession. If that occurs, it might be the second SEC regular-season title Alabama has gained within the Nate Oats period and would clinch a No. 1-seed within the SEC Championship event.
Listed here are three takeaways from Saturday’s victory.
Alabama’s 43% taking pictures efficiency at South Carolina, did not appear to make the journey again to Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide opened Saturday’s matinee sport towards the Razorbacks with an ice-cold 0-for-7 from the sector. Even when Alabama started to search out the underside of the web, it struggled to constantly rating within the half-court. Arkansas compelled Alabama to drive off of the 3-point line, however due to Mekahi Mitchell and Jalen Graham, the Razorbacks made it tough to attain within the paint because the duo mixed for 4 blocks.
Consequently, Alabama was a woeful 9-for-17 on layups regardless of going 3-for-3 on dunks. With the Crimson Tide going 1-for-10 from behind the arc, it struggled from the ground taking pictures simply 33% within the first half.
Together with Alabama’s struggles to take the lid off the basket, one among its most constant offensive weapons, Mark Sears could not get it going from the sector once more on Saturday.
It is the third sport in his final 4 outings the place he scored 15 factors or much less — tallying 13 factors in Saturday’s win — regardless of taking part in 19 minutes or extra in all 4 video games. Whereas he was capable of end the sport in double digits, Sears scored 9 factors within the final 5 minutes of the sport, all of which got here from the free-throw line. Previous to his current struggles, Sears was averaging 14 factors per sport which included back-to-back video games the place he shot 70% or higher from the sector.
In opposition to Arkansas Sears was something however environment friendly, going 2-for-7 taking pictures together with an 0-for-3 mark from downtown. With the junior struggling Alabama needed to flip to Jahvon Quinerly who spurred the second-half comeback for the Crimson Tide, tallying 12 of his 16 factors together with seven assists and two rebounds within the last 20 minutes of play.
One of many cornerstones of Alabama’s offense was its Achilles Heel towards Arkansas on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide, who has taken 845 3-pointers this season, could not discover a lot success from deep. In opposition to the Razorbacks, Alabama shot a pitiful 3-for-22 from behind the arc, marking its second-worst share of the season. The Crimson Tide’s season low was when it shot 10.7% from deep towards Longwood in its dwelling opener.
Much like that evening, Alabama had solely had just a few gamers money in from deep in Sears, Noah Clowney and Rylan Griffen. On Saturday, Brandon Miller’s 3-pointer with 3:08 within the sport snapped a streak of 15 misses from past the arc for Alabama. He completed the sport 1-for-6 regardless of main the crew in scoring for the second-consecutive sport.
The one different participant to attain from deep was Dom Welch who nailed his lone try which got here on the 10:11 mark within the first half. His basket snapped a streak of 4 consecutive misses to open the sport for the Crimson Tide.
