TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 16/15 Alabama men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 74-57 victory over the Oakland Grizzlies Monday night in Coleman Coliseum.
Senior forward JaMychal Green scored a game-high 18 points to lead a balanced scoring attack that saw the Crimson Tide place four players in double-digits scoring. Sophomore guard Trevor Releford poured in 14 points while junior forward Tony Mitchell added 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Trevor Lacey added 10 points.
Coach Anthony Grant's squad continues to climb the rankings as the Tide has started off 2-0 following Monday's win against Oakland.
“I thought it was an outstanding effort,” UA head coach Anthony Grant said. “You look at the defensive numbers and they’re really impressive. When you talk about a team like Oakland, they’ve got a lot of weapons in terms of guys that can score the basketball. They came in obviously shooting the basketball very hard, getting about 90 points a game. I thought our guys did a very good job throughout the entire game of keeping the focus on the defensive end.”
The suffocating Crimson Tide defense held Oakland preseason mid-major All-American guard Reggie Hamilton scoreless in the second half after allowing him 16 points in the first half. As a team, the Grizzlies connected on just 8-of-23 shots (34.8%) in the second half as Alabama built a commanding 23 point lead. Oakland was held to its lowest point total in its last 24 games and it marked the 28th time in the Anthony Grant era the Tide has held its opponent under 60 points.
After taking a 41-30 halftime lead, UA pushed its advantage to 49-34 early in the second half before Oakland ran off seven straight points to cut the score to 49-41 at the 14:52 mark. From there, Alabama embarked on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes, ignited by a Levi Randolph dunk and capped with a Lacey three-pointer, to take its biggest lead of the game at 59-41. The Tide pushed the advantage to as much as 23 at the 6:38 juncture before coasting home for the victory.
The Crimson Tide scored 38 of its 74 points in the paint, shooting a healthy 28-of-55 from the field (50.9%) on the night. Lacey and Randolph, both playing in just their second game for Alabama, each scored a career-best while Green was the game-high scorer for the second consecutive time this season.
Up next, Alabama takes on Maryland at the Puerto Rico Tip Off on Nov. 17 in San Juan, P.R.
