Alabama Set for Final Exhibition Monday Night
11/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
The University of Alabama men's basketball team will host its final exhibition contest in preparation for the 2010-11 season on Monday night when it welcomes Alabama-Huntsville to Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff between the two in-state programs is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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UAH will provide an excellent test for the Crimson Tide as the Chargers travel to Tuscaloosa ranked No. 20 in the NCAA Division II ranks and the preseason favorite to win the Gulf South Conference. UAH returns four starters from last year's 23-7 team that advanced to the GSC Tournament title game.
"Obviously, they've got a great program and a lot of returning players," Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. "Several of them are projected all-conference players and the returning Freshman of the Year in the league. There's a high level of respect there. They're a very well coached team and their style of play will be a challenge for us this time of year with our youth."
The Tide's typically stingy defense will face an offense that converted on 47.4 percent of its attempts from the field in 2009-10 after UA held its first exhibition foe, Talladega College, to 33 percent shooting while forcing 24 turnovers.
UAH also has an exhibition game under its belt after suffering a 69-53 loss to Vanderbilt on Nov. 3. The squad was led by reigning GSC Freshman of the Year Zane Campbell's 16 points. He averaged 11.6 points on 59.6 percent shooting last season.
Alabama's top returning scorer and rebounder is junior JaMychal Green who averaged 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during his sophomore campaign. He scored 16 points with five rebounds and four blocks against Talladega. Freshman Trevor Releford will suit up for his second exhibition after starting at point guard in the first and responding with a team-high 17 points, seven assists and just one turnover in 20 minutes of action.
Heading into his team's final preseason competition, Grant has no shortage of areas in which he wants to see improvements against UAH.
"No. 1 would be on the defensive end and the sense of urgency we need to have," Grant said. "I think we learned a lot in terms of what we need to do coming out of the press, out of transition defense. The other area is taking care of the basketball. We played with a high level of unselfishness, but we did have 19 turnovers so we need to do a better job of valuing the ball more."
Following Monday's exhibition, the Tide will begin the 2010-11 campaign in earnest on Friday when it hosts Florida A&M at 7:30 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.
