After Alabama’s win over Lipscomb, freshman John Petty said he needed to be more aggressive with his shot. He delivered in Alabama’s 104-67 win over Alabama A&M.
Petty hit 10 shots, all of which were from three point range.
“We had a great shoot around,” Petty said. “ I got some great shots up after that, so I felt good coming out. I didn’t know the record till halftime.”
The 10 three pointers is a new Alabama single game record. It was also the first time Petty had ever hit 10 threes in a game.
For the first time this season, Alabama was led by its group of freshmen. The No. 8 class in the country scored 78 of Alabama’s 104 points. The combination of Petty and Collin Sexton was lights out.
Sexton put up 25 points in his second career game, while Petty led the team with 30.
“They [the freshmen] came in with a spark,” junior forward Donta Hall said. “Us playing together as one is really a big part of what we do. It’s more of a family thing.”
Sexton put on a show for all 26 minutes he was in. He shot 11 of 16 from the field and sent the Crimson Tide up 51-22 going into the second half by hitting a half court shot to beat the buzzer.
“We always talk about getting up a shot,” head coach Avery Johnson said. “A lot of guys, on different levels of basketball, don’t want to shoot that because it will affect their stats. We don’t have a team worrying about stats.”
The Crimson Tide was obviously the better team from the tip. It started the game on a 10-0 run and never was close to looking back.
The three-pointers were huge for Alabama as it doubled the amount of Bulldogs makes 16-8. Walkons Lawson Schaffer and Landon Fuller each drained a shot from deep. It was Fuller’s first career basket.
“When Landon hit one, it sent the whole arena crazy,” Petty said.”We are always used to Landon cheering us on, and it felt good for him to make a shot and for us to cheer him on.”
Schaffer was tied for second on the team in assists with four in his nine minutes of action.
Even with the huge win Johnson wasn’t thrilled with the defense the team played, especially in the second half.
“We talked, and we watched film at halftime,” Johnson said. “A lot of what we watched defensively, we didn’t improve on. They scored seven straight possessions on us.”
With the win, Alabama is 3-0 to start the season for the first time since the 2014-2015 season. It now turns its attention to UT Arlington on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
