Tide Defeats EA Sports in Preseason Opener, 97-94
11/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Alabama point guard Mo Williams scored 34 points and forward Erwin Dudley scored 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to pace the Crimson Tide to a 97-94 victory over EA Sports in preseason competition.
Williams, a native of Jackson, Miss., dispelled any notion of a sophomore jinx by hitting 11 of 19 shots, including seven in a row over a 14 minute span, and knocking down six of eight from the three point stripe in 32 minutes of action.
"Coach (Gottfried) talked to me during the summer about getting my shooting percentage up," Williams said. "I really took a lot of shots this summer and worked hard on that."
Dudley, the SEC preseason player of the year, hit nine of 14 shots from the field, including all six of his free throws in 31 minutes for the Tide.
Also contributing for Alabama was senior center Kenny Walker who dropped in 10 points and collected three blocked shots.
Overall, Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried was pleased with his team's offensive effort in scoring 97 points and hitting 55 percent of its shots from the field.
"We should be a pretty good scoring team on offense," Gottfried said. "We have got to get a lot better defensively. Overall though we have got a pretty good team."
EA Sports was led by former Arizona standout Bennett Davison and former Georgia Tech player Fred Vinson who scored 21 and 20 points respectively.
Alabama completes its preseason next Thursday night as the Tide will take on Athletes in Action at 7 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum. Alabama's first regular season action will take place on November 14, as the Tide travels to New York City to hit the hardwood against Oklahoma in the 2002 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
