Crimson Tide Hoops Hosts SE Louisiana on Tuesday Night
11/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama men's basketball team, 1-1 overall, stays at home for game three on its schedule when it plays host Tuesday night, November 25th, to the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, 1-0.
Tip-off in Coleman Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. CT. Tickets are available and may be purchased at the door. Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $9 for kids aged 15 and under.
Both teams come into this game fresh from wins against teams from Louisiana. Alabama defeated Louisiana Tech 69-63 on Friday night, led by sophomore forward Kennedy Winston's 24 points and a UA career first double-double from his fellow sophomore Chuck Davis who had 10 points and 11 rebounds. SLU played at home on Saturday night and defeated Wiley College 73-56.
The Lions roster features Amir Abdur-Rahim, younger brother of Atlanta Hawks forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Amir Abdur-Rahim, a 6-3 senior guard who scored 9 points in SLU's season opener, went to the same high school, Atlanta's Wheeler High, as Crimson Tide freshman Jermareo Davidson. SLU also has a tie to Alabama on its coaching staff. SLU assistant coach Steve Prohm was a Tide basketball manager. He graduated from Alabama in 1997.
While Alabama has been starting three sophomores, a junior and a senior in its lineup, SLU starts three seniors and two juniors in its more veteran squad.
"They are a senior dominated team," said Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried whose own team is replacing four starters lost from last season. "I think three of their starters are seniors so they've got a lot more experience than we do. They are going to come in here probably with a little confidence in that with their experience, so, like every game, we've got to be ready to play. We're not in any position to overlook anybody on our schedule. We need to be mentally ready to play tomorrow night."
Three Alabama players go into the game with double digit scoring averages just two games into the season. Davis leads the team with 15.0 points a game. Winston is averaging 13.5 points and Antoine Pettway is averaging 12.0 points a game. Davidson is Alabama's rebounding leader with an 8.5 average after two games.
"I still stay with what I've been saying: we're not very good right now," said Gottfried whose team follows Tuesday night's game with a tough road challenge at Providence on Saturday night. "We've got to get a lot better. There are so many things we want to work on, just not enough time in each day. But we're going to get better as we go. We're getting good shots offensively but not shooting a good percentage and that concerns us. We're probably executing our offense better than we have in the last year or two but shooting a lower percentage so we've got to figure out how to correct that and go from there."
