Alabama Athletics
Alabama Basketball Thumps Furman, 81-73
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A 25-point game by freshman guard Jaden Shackelford propelled Alabama basketball to a 81-73 victory over Furman at Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday night.
He was 7-for-12 from the field, 3-for-8 from 3-point range and 8-for-10 on free throws while establishing a personal benchmark just four games into his collegiate career.
“It felt good,” Shackelford said. “My teammates were finding me and me trying to get to my spots so just keeping our flow and just finding the right open spots to get my shot it felt good.”
Tuesday was the campus game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, an eight-team midseason tournament that will otherwise be held at Grand Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The Crimson Tide will face the No. 5 North Carolina next Wednesday (1:30 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2).
Already short on players, Alabama started off down another as graduate-student guard James “Beetle” Bolden was announced to have a deep bone bruise in his right hand, which he suffered during the Rhode Island game last Friday.
“[Bolden’s] gonna cast it,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “We’re gonna take it off on Monday and reevaluate it with the hand expert. It’d be nice to get him back with a healthy wrist so he can make some shots for us.”
Alabama (2-2) started off slow on offense, turning the ball over 11 times during the first eight minutes. They continued to be a problem throughout the game.
Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, Shackelford was there to pick up the slack. In the first 20 minutes, the freshman tallied 14 points and three rebounds. He was a constant force on both offense and defense, and rallied his team around him and almost single-handedly kept the Paladins from pulling away early.
“[Those were] some big shots for us when [Shackelford] came in off the bench,” Oats said. “We needed some scoring at that time and he gave us a big lift there.”
Despite the struggles with maintaining control of the ball, Alabama entered the locker room up 34-31 at the break.
The Paladins came out clicking to start the second half, going on an 11-2 run. It was fueled by three consecutive 3-pointers and gave Furman a 42-36 lead.
After several interesting officiating calls, Oats earned his bench a technical foul, his second in four games with the Crimson Tide. However, it sparked his team, resulting in a 20-6 run that helped the Crimson Tide finally pull away from the Paladins (4-1).
“Basically when [Oats] got the technical we seen that there was a — they were starting to push for a little run so you know we came together,” junior guard John Petty, Jr., said. “He’s big on leadership. He wants us to coach each other out there on the court so we all came together you know and said 'Let’s lock in and let’s close it out,’ so that’s what we did.”
A telling moment about the team may have occurred with 2:14 remaining, and Alabama up by 10. Petty snagged a steal in Furman’s end of the court, only to drop the ball, but he kept pursuing and attempted to bat it back in. His attempt failed, however the extra effort brought the crowd to its feet.
The play demonstrated two things: Oats’ philosophy of ‘maximum effort’ is sinking in, and fans should expect a very different Alabama basketball team this season.
“They’re trying really hard to do what we’re asking them to do,” Oats said. “They’re doing a really good job trying. Now we gotta get better at that.”
In addition to Shackelford, the Crimson Tide had three other players tally double-digit points. Sophomore guard Kira Lewis, Jr., managed 19 points, followed by Petty with 16 and freshman forward Javian Davis with 10.
Lewis also led the team with seven rebounds.
Alabama improved from the free-throw line, going 20-for-27 for 74 percent. Despite the turnovers, the Crimson Tide limited the Paladins to 30.9 percent shooting for the game and out-rebounded the Paladins 43-34.
Furman was led by two players with double-digit points, including Jordan Lyons. The senior guard scored 33 points, including going a perfect 13-for-13 from the free-throw line.
“Big win,” Oats said. “Huge. We needed that one to get to 2-2 heading into North Carolina in a bad way.”
