The Alabama men’s basketball team improved to 7-0 on the season with a 72-64 victory over the VCU Rams on Sunday night.
The No. 13 ranked Crimson Tide was led by senior forward JaMychal Green, who scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, giving him his 22nd double-double of his career.
Forward Tony Mitchell scored 13 points and guard Trevor Releford had nine points and three rebounds.
The game was close from start to finish with 10 ties and 16 lead changes, but Alabama pulled away with a 13-4 run over the final 4:31, holding VCU to only one field goal during the stretch.
“We knew coming in that we had very similar styles of play,” head coach Anthony Grant said. “They came out in the first half and really dictated the tempo. Their defense was outstanding and it got us frustrated in terms of trying to run our offense. I thought things turned around in terms of our offense [in the second half].”
Alabama’s second half adjustments proved to be the key to victory. The Tide came out of halftime and got three big time dunks from Green that got the team and the crowd back into the game.
“In the first half, we weren’t executing our offense and they did a great job denying us the wings and threw us out of whack,” Green said. “In the second half, we just cut harder and tried to get open. We just played together as a team and just moved the ball around.”
Along with their three veteran players, Alabama also received big contributions from their freshmen. The Tide started freshmen Levi Randolph and Rodney Cooper, who both knocked down key shots and grabbed rebounds in traffic. Trevor Lacey and Nick Jacobs came off the bench for Alabama and sparked a huge run in the second half with great defense and offensive production.
“I thought [Trevor] Lacey did a good job of being the secondary ball handler for us and attacking the pressure in the second half,” Grant said. “It was good to see him attack the rim on a couple of possessions and get some good plays. I thought [Rodney] Cooper and Levi [Randolph] did a really good job from a defensive standpoint. Those guys have been outstanding. Cooper came up with a huge offensive rebound there at the end. Nick Jacobs gave us some good minutes there in the second half with his offensive productivity.”
The Tide hosts the Georgetown Hoyas in its next game scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 1. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m.
