Men's Basketball Travels to Providence
12/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2010
| Alabama Basketball Preview - Alabama at Providence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alabama (4-4) at Providence (9-2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
The University of Alabama men's basketball team plays its second straight game on the road Saturday when it travels to Providence to face the Friars on ESPNU at 1 p.m. CST.
The Crimson Tide returns to action with a 4-4 record after taking the last week off from competition for final exams. The squad will try to rebound from last Saturday's 66-47 loss at No. 22/18 Purdue.
Providence will also be aiming to get back in the win column as the Friars return home after losing, 88-86, at Boston College on Wednesday evening. The loss dropped Providence to 9-2 on the season but the team is a sterling 8-0 on its home court.
"Providence has gotten off to a great start here in the first 10-11 games of the season," Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. "They're undefeated at home and are led by a terrific player in Marshon Brooks. He's a dynamic scorer and a guy that we saw last year in our building and had a terrific game."
Brooks leads Providence this season with 22.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per game after scoring 28 points with 10 rebounds on Wednesday. Feeding him the ball is point guard Vincent Council who is averaging seven assists per game to go along with his 16.7 points per outing. He contributed 13 points and nine assists against BC to finish an assist shy of his second straight points-assists double-double.
For the Tide, Tony Mitchell looks to pick up where he left off before exams as the sophomore averaged 15.3 points and 12.3 rebounds in UA's last two games and finished one rebound shy of his third straight double-double at Purdue. During that three-game stretch he has played a team-high 101 minutes (33.7 mpg) and 11 of his 37 rebounds have come off the offensive glass. Senior Senario Hillman has also stepped up during that span, averaging 11.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
The Tide and Providence meet for the seventh time in the series history with Alabama holding a 4-2 advantage in the series including an 84-75 win last year in Tuscaloosa. Two of those six meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament with each team advancing once.
Following Saturday's tilt, the Tide returns to Coleman Coliseum for the first time in two weeks when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana at 8 p.m. CST.
