GETTING INSIDE

With all the excitement in Tuscaloosa over a football team that is playing for a BCS national championship and has the first Heisman Trophy winner in school history, it’s been tough for Alabama’s basketball team to get noticed.

Certainly, the Tide, which started 8-4 in its first season under head coach Anthony Grant, has tried.

The Tide pushed No. 5 ranked Purdue to the end, losing 73-65, then came back against No. 17 Kansas State. While the final score wasn’t as close (Alabama lost 87-74), the team played more like Grant wants as Alabama prepares to begin SEC play.

Against Kansas State, the Tide had 80 possessions, the most of the season, and forced 22 turnovers, a season-high for the Wildcats. That marked the seventh consecutive game in which Alabama forced opponents into more turnovers than their season average.

In the past five games, Alabama has had a plus-39 advantage in turnover margin, forcing 102 total turnovers.

That’s the kind of pressure Grant wants to see every night from his team that is forcing an average of 16.3 turnovers a game while committing an SEC-low 12.2 turnovers per game.

Senior Mikhail Torrence leads the team with 15.9 points per game, followed by JaMychal Green’s 14.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

NOTES, QUOTES

• When starting guard Andrew Steele went down with a stress fracture, freshman Tony Mitchell stepped in and has responded. Mitchell is scoring 9.9 points per game, and is averaging 3.6 steals per game as a starter.

It’s not the points that impress Grant; it’s the steals.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on our team that are capable of scoring the basketball,” Grant said. “But at the end of the day, what’s going to win games for you is the consistency on the defensive end, the habits that we’re trying to build. … I think (Tony) is making the most of the opportunity he has.”

• Anthony Grant has been almost non-committal when asked about the idea of the NCAA expanding the tournament.

“I think there’s some prestige in being part of the 64-team group,” Grant said.

“But as the same time, I do think there are an awful lot of qualified teams that get left out at the end of the year for whatever reason. I guess I have a different perspective, coming from VCU, where we could have a great year and have maybe a bad game or a bad weekend and be left at home. You could make arguments for both.

“As a coach, I’m more concerned about trying to control what I can control. I really haven’t thought a whole lot about it.”

January At A Glance:   With the new television contract in place, Alabama will begin to get a lot of exposure over the next month, playing all of its league games on TV. The good news is that other than three teams (Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State) at the top, the rest of the league is bringing similar records into the start of conference play. Alabama opens with a favorable January. Its first three games are against LSU, Vanderbilt and Arkansas; the Tide should be competitive with all three. In fact, the Tide has only two games in the month against teams at the top of the league—Tennessee on Jan. 19 and Mississippi State on Jan. 23—and both games are in Tuscaloosa. A good month of January would build confidence for a schedule that gets tougher in February.

Quote To Note:   “We have to, as a team, understand that the ball’s got to go inside. Obviously JaMychal (Green) is a guy that we’ve got to get touches for. There’s been some games where we’ve kind of forgotten a little bit about him inside.” - Alabama coach Anthony Grant, on the point of emphasis for his team going into January.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Season Recap:   Alabama is adjusting to life under a coach that demands relentless, pressure defense, quite a change from a year ago under former coach Mark Gottfried’s half-court style of play. It has produced some good defensive efforts, holding opponents to 64.5 points per game, but the offense is lagging behind (71 points per game, 10th in the SEC). When the Tide plays good defense, as it did against ranked opponents Purdue and Kansas State, it has a chance. But Alabama lost both of those games because it does not have consistent scoring down the stretch to finish off those teams.

Player Rotation:   Usual Starters—F JaMychal Green, F Tony Mitchell, G Mikhail Torrence, G Senario Hillman, G Anthony Brock. Key Subs—G Chavez Davis, F Justin Knox, F Chris Hines.

Game Review:    

Alabama 60, Samford 45

Kansas State 87, Alabama 74

Alabama 90, Mercer 71

Game Preview:  

vs. Tennessee State, Wednesday, Dec. 30

at Toledo, Monday, Jan 4

at LSU, Saturday, Jan 9

vs.Vanderbilt, Wednesday, Jan. 13

In Focus:   If there was a game that really measured how much better this Alabama team is than a year ago, it was the 90-71 victory over Mercer. A year ago, Alabama lost to Mercer, 72-69. This time, the Tide jumped out to a 19-0 lead and held Mercer without a field goal for the first seven minutes, 29 seconds, and didn’t allow Mercer to get within 10 points the rest of the night. Alabama forced 16 turnovers, and scored 25 points of those turnovers. That’s the kind of production Anthony Grant believes he has to see from this team in January to be competitive in the SEC.

Roster Report:  

• Sophomore G Andrew Steele is out with a stress fracture in his foot. He had been starting until the injury. He is expected to be out at least two more weeks.

• G Mikhail Torrence ranks 10th in scoring (15.8), third in assists (5.5) and second in free throw percentage (.900) in the league.