Alabama’s NCAA tournament resume won’t be lacking a solid non-conference win this season, as the Crimson Tide beat the Oakland Grizzlies 74-57.
The Oakland Grizzlies may not strike fear into a casual fan just by the name, but they are a proud program. Last year, head coach Greg Kampe had his Grizzlies take on Ohio State, Purdue, Illinois, Tennessee and Michigan, all on the road. Oakland also did something last year’s Crimson Tide could not: gain a bid to the NCAA tournament.
When the battle-tested program came to Tuscaloosa, the likely suspects of Trevor Releford, JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell were thought to be the ones who would carry the team to a victory or fall trying. This was the story of the first half, as all three scored in double-digits in the first 20 minutes of play.
“We really got in a flow tonight,” Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. “Our guys understood their job more in terms of what we’re trying to do from an offensive standpoint.”
Grant added, “I think our focus, our intensity tonight was really good. Anytime you have that, good things are going to happen.”
Then freshmen Rodney Cooper, Trevor Lacey and Levi Randolph took the court and the Grizzlies by storm in the second half, transforming a would-be nail-biter into a 17-point win.
The freshmen’s effect on the game was easy to see by all of the 9,876 people in attendance and was clearly felt by the Oakland coaching staff.
“I think you have to guard them with the athleticism they have,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “I think, for freshmen, they have learned to defend very quickly. It’s hard to teach a freshman to defend. Maybe [Grant] recruited them because they could defend or maybe he’s just a hell of a coach and taught them that fast. I can’t teach freshmen to defend like that that quickly.”
“I think those guys had an impact in a lot of ways. You cannot discount the impact they had on the defensive end,” Grant said. “I do not know the numbers they had on the offensive end, but I thought those guys impacted the game for the majority of the time they were on the floor.”
Both Cooper and Lacey had a profound effect on the second half offensively for the Tide. All of Cooper’s six points and eight of Lacey’s 10 points came in the second half, and both were perfect from the free throw line in the second half.
Near the end of the second half, as Alabama was putting the game out of reach for good, the Tide got 14 straight points from the offensive onslaught of Cooper and Lacey, taking the game from 56-41 with over 13 minutes left to 70-47 with only four minutes and 56 seconds left.
Though a decisive win at home over a consistent tournament contender may be impressive, Grant is keeping his players in tune with the mental state of his program.
“The mistake you sometimes make is to blow things out of proportion,” Grant said. “This is one game. I think our guys played well tonight, but we have to understand that there are good signs with this team. But I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of how good we can be. One day at a time, one game at a time.”
