While Shots Aren't Falling, Alabama Basketball Focuses on the Things It Can Control
INDIANAPOLIS — Alabama basketball has been winning all season. That much is certain. But while the Crimson Tide sports the record of 25-6, its methods of winning have dramatically changed over the course of the season.
As Alabama entered SEC play in late December, offense was its key to victory. Players like senior guard John Petty Jr. led the charge in threes while others like sophomore guards Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly helped with the layups and short jumpers.
As the season continued, though, the Crimson Tide’s style has shifted from an offensive powerhouse to that of a defensive one. While Alabama’s defense was successful even from the start of the season, it’s only grown better as the season has progressed.
Now Alabama is in the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis. While the team won its final six games prior to entry into the Big Dance as a No. 2 seed — including three games in Nashville that won it the SEC tournament title — it has been its defense that has consistently needed to bail it out of close games.
While the winning result is ultimately what matters, the NCAA tournament is a whole different sort of animal. In order to succeed, the Crimson Tide must find a way to perform on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
Against Iona in the first round of March Madness on Saturday, Alabama’s defense had to take care of business once again. While it didn’t necessarily perform at its highest level, it still managed to hold the Gaels to 55 points and prevent an upset. However, the Crimson Tide’s offense was lacking.
Over the course of the game, Alabama was just 25-of-53 from the floor (47 percent). From beyond the arc, the Crimson Tide was 5-of-16 (31 percent) and also made just 13 of its 23 free-throw attempts.
Two of those five threes were from Alex Reese, who struggled over the course of the season but has gotten better over Alabama’s last six games.
“I really just think it’s timely shots falling,” Reese said. “I’ve struggled making shots all year and my teammates and my coaching staff still have a lot of confidence in the way I shoot the ball. I make shots a lot in practice. I was just lucky to get a couple of them to fall. I had good times in the SEC tournament and yesterday that helped us pull away a little bit in that game yesterday.”
Two threes from a single player won’t be enough to rejuvenate an entire offense over a multi-game stretch, though.
During this offensive slump of Alabama’s, Petty has arguably struggled the most. Against Iona, Petty shot just three of his 13 shots and was 1-for-5 from three-point territory. Petty is the Crimson Tide’s all-time three-point leader, and if the team wants to advance further in the tournament, it’s going to need his help.
While Petty’s effort on the defensive end of the court during his offensive slump hasn’t gone unnoticed, his lack of performance on offense is certainly troubling for the Crimson Tide squad. That being said, Petty says that his head coach in Nate Oats still tried to build his confidence and maintain his focus on what he can control.
“He just basically always builds my confidence on the stuff that I am doing good,” Petty said. “Like, you know, playing defense, rebounding, and just tells me to lose myself into stuff that I can control because sometimes I feel like you can’t control whether the shots are falling or not.
“I work on my shot every day — numerous times a day I get shots up so when they’re falling I try not to think too much about it because I know I put work in and I know just sometimes you can’t control if the shot goes in or not.”
On Monday, Alabama will be taking on No. 10-seed Maryland in the NCAA tournament’s second round. Should the Crimson Tide win, the team would advance to the team’s first Sweet 16 since 2004. While Saturday’s game was played at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University, Monday’s game will be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers.
While the quick changing of venues could cause problems with Alabama’s shooting, Oats doesn’t believe it will. If anything, he thinks it could help his Crimson Tide.
“Shoot, maybe a new venue won’t hurt,” Oats laughed. “We didn’t shoot well in Hinkle. I thought it was the shooter’s gym, it was more like a high school gym. Big, cavernous arena and we didn’t shoot well there so maybe we could get back to a bigger arena more like Coleman — they’re used to shooting in Coleman — we’ll see how that goes.”
On Saturday, Maryland defeated No. 7-seed UConn 63-54. The Terrapins shot 51-percent from the floor and 50-percent from beyond the three-point line — something that Alabama has been unable to do during its slump.
While those numbers are impressive, Alabama has been able to beat teams purely by the number of shots it puts up. While Maryland was able to shoot better percentage-wise, it still scored less points than the Crimson Tide did on Saturday. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if the Terrapins will be able to slow down Alabama’s pace, or if they will be left behind.
When asked about how a new venue against a new opponent could affect his team’s shooting, Oats said that both teams are at the same disadvantage since neither have played at Bankers Life before.
“Shooters like to shoot in the venue they’re going to play in,” Oats said. “So we are going to be able to shoot in Bankers Life [Monday] morning. We’ve got to make sure that we get shots up for the shooters there, then they’ll be able to warm up before the game in there. It’s how it works for the NCAA tournament.
“I mean, Maryland’s got the same deal we got. It’s not like they’re getting all this extra time in that venue and we’re not — we get equal time.”
