Crimson Tide Roll Call: Feb. 22, 2021

Your daily briefing on what's going on with Alabama athletics, and how to watch the Crimson Tide

Today is ... National Margarita Day

BamaCentral Headlines

• The Sunday Crimson Tikes: Hunting Season

• SEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Week 13

• How to Watch No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball at No. 24 Arkansas Razorbacks

• No. 5 Alabama Softball Run-Rules LSU, 13-5

• Seniors Shine in Alabama Women's Basketball's Senior Day Win over Mississippi State, 71-63

• This Week with the Crimson Tide: Feb. 22-28, 2021

• No. 25 Alabama Baseball Sweeps McNeese State with 9-5 Victory

• In case you missed it: Tyler Barnes' First Career Start Highlights Alabama Basketball's Senior Day

Crimson Tide results

• Baseball: Alabama 9, McNeese State 5

• Softball: Alabama 13, LSU 5

• Women's basketball: Alabama 71, Mississippi State 63

• Men's tennis: South Carolina 5, Alabama 2

• Women's tennis: South Carolina 4, Alabama 2

• Women's golf: T5 at Gators Invitational

Crimson Tide schedule

Women's golf: at Gators Invitational

Did you notice?

• The 20^th-ranked Alabama women's golf team was tied for fifth place at the end of the first round of the Gators Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. Alabama posted an 11-over-par 291 at the conclusion of play in the first round. UCF was atop the team leaderboard after shooting 3-over par 283 and held a three-stroke lead over Tennessee (286). Alabama's Polly Mack was four-strokes off the individual leader Annabell Fuller of Florida, who notched a 3-under par 67 in the opening round.

• The No. 23-ranked Alabama men’s tennis team fell at No. 20 South Carolina by a score of 5-2. The Crimson Tide is now 8-4 on the season while the Gamecocks go to 6-2. Alabama won the doubles point with victories by Patrick Kaukovalta and Riccardo Roberto over No. 44-ranked Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson at No. 1 and Gabriel Diaz Freire and Zhe Zhou over No. 59 Raphael Lambling and Phillip Jordan at No. 2. Roberto also picked up a win at No. 5 singles.

• The Alabama women’s tennis team pushed No. 20 South Carolina early and tied the match at 2-2 before losing a tough-fought match 4-2 at the Alabama Tennis Facility. Alabama fell to 9-3 on the season, with South Carolina 4-5. After dropping the doubles point and No. 5 singles to the Gamecocks went down 0-2, Alabama rallied with straight-set wins from Alba Cortina Pou at No. 4 and Sydney Riley at No. 6. Moka Ito stretched No. 34-ranked Mia Horvit to three sets, while Sasha Gorchanyuk forced No. 30 Megan Davies to extra games in both her sets.

• Former Crimson Tide standout Levi Randolph went off for the Canton Charge against the Salt Lake Stars. He dropped 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting and added four rebounds and two assists. 

• Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton recorded another 20-point game, with 27 points, five rebounds and three assists in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Countdown to the Crimson Tide's 2021 opener

194 days

On this date in Crimson Tide history:

February 22, 1893: Alabama and Auburn played for the first time in football. The Tigers won 32-22 before approximately 5,000 fans at Lakeview Park in Birmingham. The schools played every year until 1907, when the rivalry was suspended until 1948.

Crimson Tide quote of the day

Feb. 22: “We hazard nothing in saying that the game would not make a single constructive contribution to education in the state.” It concluded: “The fundamental question is: Do the people of Alabama need a tranquil, sane kind of athletics in their two major institutions, or an irrational rabid kind?” – Alabama’s Committee on Physical Education and Athletics report on whether to renew the rivalry with Auburn. At the time, both coach Frank Thomas and Alabama school officials believed nothing could be gained for the Crimson Tide by playing a team that had never finished better than third in the SEC.

We'll leave you with this ...