Alabama
Tennessee State
Men's Basketball Defeats Tennessee State 75-66
12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's basketball team defeated Tennessee State 75-66 at Coleman Coliseum Wednesday night. The Tide did most of its damage around the basket scoring 42 points in the paint.
"I still think we can play better," head coach Mark Gottfried said. "We played some different lineups tonight and that probably had us a little out of sync and out of rhythm, but we did a lot of good things. We did some good things defensively. We didn't handle the ball very well at times. I think we just got careless with (the ball) and that's disappointing, but at the end of the day it's a good win."
The Crimson Tide shot 48 percent from the field while holding the Tigers to 37 percent shooting for the game, the seventh time this season that Alabama has held an opponent under 40 percent shooting. The Tide held a narrow edge on the glass, out-rebounding Tennessee State 43-40. Alabama converted 16 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points.
Senior Alonzo Gee led the Tide in scoring for the fifth-straight game with 24 points to go with six rebounds. Senior Ronald Steele added 13 points, 12 of which came on four shots from behind the arc. Steele also led Alabama with six assists.
"My teammates have a lot of confidence in me and are getting me the ball," Gee said. "They were able to give me open looks, and we were able to execute the offense. We are playing together as a team. We are just believing in each other."
Junior Yamene Coleman gave Alabama huge production off the bench, posting his first career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Coleman also swatted away three shots for a game-high three blocks.
"(Coleman) is doing a nice job, but what you like about him is he goes and gets you rebounds; he's getting them in traffic usually," Gottfried said. "It's traffic, two-hands, just good fundamental basketball. Another thing that goes unnoticed a lot of times is he does a good job defensively, but 14 points and 14 rebounds is a really good night for Yamene."
The Tide held a 39-25 advantage at halftime after leading by as many as 22 points before the break. Alabama stretched the lead with a 19-5 run that began at the 13:34 mark and included three-consecutive three pointers on three-straight possessions, two from Steele and one from Gee.
The Tide shot 49 percent from the field in the first half while holding Tennessee State to 32 percent shooting. Gee scored 14 points in the first frame to lead Alabama.
Gerald Robinson led Tennessee State with 15 points and seven rebounds. The sophomore guard also came up with a game-high five steals.
Alabama plays the fifth of eight consecutive home games against Chattanooga on Monday, Dec. 22 at 6:00 p.m. CT.
