Brandon Miller's Special Freshman Year Reaches Another Milestone
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brandon Miller needed 15 points against Georgia Saturday night to hit the season and career milestone of 500 points. He accomplished it with nearly eight minutes to go... in the first half.
Once again, Miller was the leading scorer in the Crimson Tide's 108-59 win over the Bulldogs, finishing with 21 points on the night. He made five of his first six shots from the floor and had nine points before the first media timeout.
Miller joined Collin Sexton and James "Hollywood" Robinson as the only freshmen in program history to reach 500 points in a season and did it faster than either of the other two.
"It’s honestly crazy— especially with the team we have, how skilled we are, how deep we are, 500 points already," Alabama forward Nick Pringle said after the game. "I mean, I don’t think you can have a better freshman year than this. He’s great for us. We all love him."
For reference, Sexton averaged 19.2 points per game in 2017-18 and Robinson averaged 16.8 PPG during his freshman campaign in 1990-91.
This season, Miller leads the SEC in scoring (18.7 PPG) and is top-five in 3-point percentage (42.5 percent) and free throw percentage (82.5 percent.) There has only been one game this season where he hasn't scored in double figures, and it come on the road against No. 1 Houston back in December.
"That’s why he’s the fastest freshman in Alabama history to get to 500, because he’s consistently there every night," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. "Even when teams try to take him out, he finds ways. He’ll get some buckets in transition. He gets the o-boards and gets some buckets. He gets fouled. His free throw percentage is high— he was 4 for 4 tonight. So, he’s got all sorts of different ways to score.
"You can try to take him out. You can do a really good job on him, and he still ends up with 14, 15, 16 on a great defensive night by the opponent. He still finds a way to put up about 15 points on a regular basis it seems.”
It's also a huge reason why Alabama is ranked No. 1 in the country and at the top of the SEC standings with a 22-4 (13-1 SEC) record. The Crimson Tide is trying to win its second regular season conference title in three seasons and earn its first ever No. 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Crimson Tide has at least six games left between the regular season, SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, but could play up to 13 depending on how things shake out in the tournaments. Miller needs 126 more points to break Sexton's record for single-season points by a freshman, and 241 points to break Reggie King's long-standing scoring record of 747 points in the 1978-79 season. That would likely require a deep tournament run, but isn't out of the realm of possibility for this team or Miller.
Alabama has been winning by insane margins at home on the way to an undefeated record inside Coleman Coliseum this season, and a large part of that is due to the play of Miller. In Alabama's 13 home wins, Miller is averaging 20 points per game. And because of the big leads Alabama's been getting out to at home, allowing Oats to rest the starters, the freshman forward is averaging a lot fewer minutes at home, or the scoring output could be even higher.
Even Alabama football coach Nick Saban has come to Coleman twice this year to take in a Crimson Tide basketball game: Saturday night against Georgia and also the win over Kentucky in early January. Late in the second half Saturday night when the starters were already out of the game resting on the bench, Miller took the moment to wave to Saban and let him know how big of a fan he was of the legendary coach. The feeling might just be mutual as Saban usually doesn't make an appearance at more than one basketball game a season.
Alabama Crimson Tide forward Brandon Miller (24) waves at Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban (not pictured) after coming out of the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Coleman Coliseum.
Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports
With Miller being a consensus top-five pick among NBA mock drafts, there's no amount of NIL money that could compare to the type of professional contract he will receive that could keep the freshman in Tuscaloosa for another season. This means Alabama fans get to watch Miller play in Coleman Coliseum in front of the home crowd: Feb. 25 against Arkansas and March 1 against Auburn. Both games have been sold out for weeks and will also play a role in Alabama potentially clinching the SEC regular season championship.
The fan support at home has been stronger than any other season in recent memory. Miller always gets the loudest cheer during the starting lineup introductions. Perhaps the only times the Coleman crowd gets louder is for high-flying dunks from Pringle, or when senior walk-on Adam Cottrell enters the game and hits a 3-pointer.
There will be more dunks, alley-oops, 3-pointers and incredible feats of athleticism. Yet, there will only be a few more weeks of the sensational freshman in Tuscaloosa with a few individual records and team aspirations on the line. And basketball fans should soak in every last second of it.
See also:
Alabama Basketball Responds to Loss With Another 40-Point Win
BamaCentral Courtside: No. 1 Alabama 108, Georgia 59
Alabama Viewer's Guide to First Full Weekend of Spring Sports
