John Petty Jr.'s Offensive Resurgence Means Trouble For UCLA and Beyond
INDIANAPOLIS — He heard the noise. He heard the doubt. He didn't care.
John Petty's Jr.s fourth and final 3-pointer, in the waning moments of Alabama's 96-77 rout of Maryland in the second round of the 2021 NCAA tournament inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday night, was the exclamation point on a magical evening that saw the Crimson Tide shoot a blistering 48.3 percent (16 of 33) from deep.
"That's the John Petty we all know," Alabama coach Nate Oats said after the win. "It's good to have him back."
Petty's role in the 19-point victory was enormous, especially given that the senior guard had been cold of late from beyond-the-arc shooting 23% (9 of 39) over the team's previous four games.
The Huntsville, Ala. product finished with 20 points on 7 of 15 shooting, including a 4 of 9 clip from deep. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists, finishing with a plus/minus of 19, which led the team.
"It was amazing, good to see the work pay off," Alabama guard Jaden Shackelford said of his teammate. "J.P. is in the gym all the time. It was good to see him knock down shots, it was big for us. It was big on our run. It was great to see the shot fall for him. Super proud of him and super happy."
Petty missed his first three attempts from 3-point range before watching two of them find the bottom of the net on back-to-back possessions early in the second half to torch the Terrapins.
Elated with fiery passion, Oats gave Petty a slap on the back as he proceeded to run back down the court.
On the next two possessions for the Alabama offense, Shackelford canned back-to-back threes of his own, following his teammate's lead.
Shackelford poured in a game-high 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including five 3-pointers.
"It was surreal to be honest," Shackelford said. "We dreamt to be on this stage early in the year, so to see the work on display, really our bench is great. Our fans are great. Much love to them for all the support they bring to us. Just all that fed into that electricity on the court for us. It was big. Probably helped us make those shots. So big shots but it's a lot going into it."
Oats is hoping Petty's performance will carry over to Sunday evening, when the Crimson Tide plays UCLA inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in the Sweet 16.
"I've just been talking to him," Oats said. "I think he's just been all about the right stuff for the majority of the year these last, two, three months. And he deserved to play better than what he had played. And I think he was putting a lot of pressure on himself. And I just felt like he could use a shot to go through, couple back-to-back.
"It was huge. I was happy for him. And excited for him. And hopefully this gets him on a roll here. He's just been playing super hard."
