No. 16 Alabama looks to bounce back from its worst beating of the season when it battles South Florida on Wednesday night in nonconference play at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Crimson Tide lost 96-75 to top-ranked Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday and were outscored by 23 points in the second half. Alabama notched a season-low point total to drop its season average to 93.1.
“They are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We came out, didn’t have a good start and it just progressively got worse.”
Labaron Philon Jr. had another standout performance with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Crimson Tide (7-3). It was his eighth 20-point effort and first double-double of the season.
Philon leads Alabama in scoring (21.7 points) and assists (5.4). He also has team-best totals of 22 3-pointers and 13 steals.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added a season-best 21 points for Alabama against the Wildcats. Aiden Sherrell had a career-best eight blocked shots for the second time in three games as the Crimson Tide matched the single-game school mark of 15 rejections set against Georgia on Feb. 10, 1996.
However, the Crimson Tide were badly exposed on the boards as they were outrebounded 52-32, including 22-3 on the offensive glass.
“This has been a recurring issue for us,” Oats said. “When we play these tough physical teams, we haven’t answered the bell real well on the glass.”
Oats also bemoaned his team’s inability to take care of the ball. The Crimson Tide committed 15 turnovers while the Wildcats had just four miscues.
The failures on the glass combined with the giveaways led to Arizona taking 84 shots from the field compared to Alabama’s 56.
“It’s nearly impossible to win a game whenever your opponent has 28 more field-goal attempts than you,” Oats said.
Clearly, the Crimson Tide can improve in a lot of areas when they take on South Florida (6-4).
The Bulls are coached by Bryan Hodgson, a former Oats assistant at both Buffalo and Alabama.
Hodgson is in his first season at USF after being Arkansas State’s head coach for two seasons.
South Florida has won its past two games, including an 81-75 home victory over College of Charleston on Dec. 10. The Bulls had a 23-0 run in the first half.
USF leading scorer Joseph Pinion (14.6 ppg) drained six 3-pointers — his career high — for the third time this season while scoring 21 points. Pinion has made a team-leading 34 pointers.
Pinion played two seasons at Arkansas and one at Arkansas State before following Hodgson to Tampa for this season.
Bulls freshman Tristan Beckford had his best game of the season with 17 points and nine rebounds against Charleston. He hadn’t seen much action before the breakout performance.
“I told him, stay the course. Continue to stack days,” Hodgson said of Beckford. “I’ve been doing this for 18 years. I’ve told him it’s coming. It’s coming. Stay the course. Don’t quit, don’t give up. It’s easy to give up. You know, you don’t play in seven games, you’re thinking, ‘Well, I’m not gonna play.'”
The Bulls have displayed balanced scoring while averaging 88.6 points through 10 games.
Josh Omojafo (13.2 ppg), CJ Brown (13.1), Izaiyah Nelson (12.9) and Wes Enis (11.6) join Pinion in double digits. Nelson leads the squad in rebounding (9.3 per game) and blocked shots (18).
