Keon Ellis Shines as Alabama Basketball Downs Louisiana in Charity Exhibition, 73-68
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was the Keon Ellis show on Sunday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum as Alabama basketball downed Louisiana 73-68 in the Crimson Tide's preseason charity exhibition.
Ellis recorded 21 points, four rebounds and three assists in the Alabama victory, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He also recorded a block and four steals.
While the game wasn't broadcast on radio or television, all proceeds from ticket sales to the event benefitted United Way of West Alabama.
"It was a perfect exhibition game, in my opinion," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. "They're a good team. There's a reason we did a charity exhibition against a Division I versus a non-Division I because I think they push you, stretch you.
The first half didn't get off to the start that the Crimson Tide wanted, with Alabama trailing 16-7 after the first 10 minutes of play. However, an 8-0 run that began with five minutes left in the half brought the Crimson Tide back within a point. The run began with senior guard Keon Ellis' second three-pointer of the game, but was highlighted by a dunk by Keon Ambrose-Hylton that brought Coleman Coliseum to its feet and back into the action.
However, the Ragin' Cajuns had no plans to surrender its lead. In the last three minutes, Louisiana hit four threes to maintain an edge over the Crimson Tide.
After the first 20 minutes, Alabama trailed 33-32 heading into the locker room. Furman transfer forward Noah Gurley led the Crimson Tide with 11 points. True freshman guard J.D. Davison placed second with nine points in the first half.
Gurley, Ambrose-Hylton and junior guard Jaden Shackelford all tied for the team-lead in rebounds with four apiece.
In the second half, it was Ellis' time to dial the notch up to 100. In the first seven minutes, Ellis was all over the court and established himself as the best two-way player on the court. With seven points, an assist, a block and a steal, it was the Keon Ellis show heading into the under-12 media timeout.
With 11:24 left, Ellis stepped up to the line and hit three free throws after being on the receiving end of a foul. Ellis' time at the charity stripe gave the Crimson Tide its first lead since the 3:39 mark of the first half.
At 10:41, Shackelford finally made his first basket, a three-point shot that hit the rim, bounced off of the backboard and rolled back in. With momentum on Alabama's side heading into the final 10 minutes of play, the crowd and the Crimson Tide bench were back in the game.
Shackelford's three began a 15-3 run that solidified Alabama's lead and gave the Crimson Tide a little bit of breathing room. After a three by Louisiana, Ellis answered with his fifth three. A dunk by Miles a minute later increased the Alabama lead to 10 points — the Crimson Tide's largest lead of the afternoon.
"I don't quite remember the run but I'm pretty sure that's just when we locked in on defense, got stops," Ellis said. "We were struggling on offense early but that'll happen during the season. Shots are not going to drop, but once we locked in on defense, that makes it easier for offense to flow."
The Ragin' Cajuns were able to pull within a point with under a minute left, but the Crimson Tide lead proved to ultimately be insurmountable as Davison recorded a layup to put Alabama up by three with 25.4 seconds left.
The ensuing possession by Louisiana was unsuccessful, and Alabama won 73-68.
"To figure out how to win a game against a very good team — and Louisiana's good, I mean they've got high-major bigs, they're a very good team — to figure out how to win a game when you played as poorly as we did on offense really speaks to the culture that we've built," Oats said. "Building it around defense, we've got to do a much better job on the offensive side of the ball.
"Our turnovers were way to high, our shooting wasn't good. That's on me not putting us in the right spots. I didn't think we did a great job getting our guys ready to go against their defense but I can't say enough about what our defense did."
While Ellis finished the game leading the team with 21 points and tied for the team-lead with four steals, Davison debut was also quietly impressive. While he turned the ball over seven times, Davison still registered 19 points — good enough for second on the team.
Gurley was the only other Alabama player to score double-digits and finished with 13 on the day.
One big-picture improvement was the Crimson Tide's trips to the free-throw line. While freshman center Charles Bediako finished a lackluster 3-of-7 from the line, if you remove his performance, Alabama finished 24-of-26 as a team.
Considering that free throws were the ultimate cause of the Crimson Tide's demise at the hands of the UCLA Bruins in the Sweet 16, the improvement is a cause for celebration among Alabama fans.
While Alabama started the game out slow, it eventually found its rhythm and was able to be quite effective. That being said, disappointing performances from Shackelford and others show that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
"We've got plenty of work to do in the next two weeks plus obviously when shots are not falling with the way we play, it's going to put a lot of stress on your offense," Oats said.
