As Tuscaloosa ground to a halt, paralyzed by the threat of impending snow, 8838 fans trickled into Coleman Coliseum, quiet as a grave for most of the game.
On the court, senior Levi Randolph and junior Retin Obasohan were anything but still. The two guards combined for 32 points, pulling the Crimson Tide to victory in its 59-51 win over South Carolina on Tuesday night.
“Really proud of our guys,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “Great effort tonight. Obviously, a lot of different adversities in the game tonight, but I really thought our guys showed great maturity, great poise. It’s a character win from the standpoint of coming off a defeat in our last game. They were able to regroup and sometimes for athletes, especially collegiate athletes, all you need to do is get back on the court and compete again. I think our guys enjoyed that process tonight.”
That adversity included the pre-game elimination of forward Mike Kessens, unavailable with a pain in a bruised knee that has plagued him all season, and the in-game injury to Shannon Hale, who re-injured the foot he broke last spring. Both are listed as day-to-day. Despite Hale’s injury, Alabama out-scored the Gamecocks 37-29 in the second half, when Obasohan scored 12 of his 15, Randolph added 7 and senior guard Rodney Cooper scored all of his 11.
“This is a team right here that, no matter what happens or no matter what’s going on with adversity or anything, we’re going to fight,” Randolph said. “We always feel comfortable with the guys we have ready to play. Whoever’s on the court, everybody trusts each other. We’re just going to go out there and do the things coach asks us to do and give it everything we’ve got to get the win.”
Alabama (17-11, 7-8 SEC) was able to hold guard Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina’s leading scorer to just four points, well below his season average of 11.5 points.
“The biggest thing Coach wanted us to do was take away their gaps,” Obasohan said. “With the personnel they have, they’re really athletic and do a great job of getting in gaps and drawing fouls and getting to the basket. Coming into the game, Coach wanted us to close those gaps and take away the thing they wanted to do the most. I’m really proud of our guys and the way the executed the way Coach wanted us to execute.”
