TUSCALOOSA ?? Former Crimson Tide assistant coach Orlando Early returns to Coleman Coliseum Tuesday night as head coach of Louisiana Monroe when the
University of Alabama basketball team plays host to the Warhawks at 7 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum. Tickets are available and on sale at the Athletic Ticket Box Office at Coleman Coliseum or may be purchased online through
www.rolltide.com or by phone at 1-800-TIDETIX. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for kids.
"Louisiana Monroe is a very good basketball team," said Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried. "Orlando Early, their coach who we know well, has done a great job. They're guard-oriented, and they can really score the ball from the perimeter so we've got to do a really good job of defending them. I like their personnel. They have very good players, so we've got to get ready to play. I think we need to be a lot better than we were a couple of nights ago (Saturday, against Texas Southern), and we've addressed some of that in practice, and we'll see if we have a better energy level on Tuesday night than we saw the other night."
Alabama is 5-0. ULM is 3-3. The Tide is at midpoint of a three-game home stand. It hosted and defeated Texas Southern 74-44 on Saturday night, led by double-doubles in points and rebounding from senior center Jermareo Davidson and sophomore forward Richard Hendrix. Alabama hosts Tennessee State at 12:30 on Saturday. That game is a doubleheader with the Alabama women who play Savannah State at noon CT.
The Tide men are led in scoring by John R. Wooden and Naismith candidate Jermareo Davidson who is averaging the double-double, 14.5 points and 11.0 rebounds. Three other Alabama starters are averaging in double digits in scoring, including Alonzo Gee at 14.2 points a game, and both Richard Hendrix and Ronald Steele at 12.8 points a game.
"We're doing some things well," said Gottfried, "but I also think there are so many areas in the game where we can improve. We're not near the team that we can become later in the year, but I do like our guys. I like where we are. We've just got to get a lot better."
