Men's Basketball Set to Face Oklahoma State
12/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2010
| Alabama Basketball Preview - vs. Oklahoma State | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alabama (5-5) vs. Oklahoma State (9-1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
The University of Alabama men's basketball team takes to the road for the third time in its last four games to face Oklahoma State at the Lane Furniture All-College Classic in Oklahoma City on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CST with the contest being broadcast by ESPN2 and online via ESPN3.com.
The Crimson Tide travels to the All-College Classic with a 5-5 record after handling Southeastern Louisiana, 59-38, on Wednesday to improve to a perfect 5-0 at home this season.
Head coach Anthony Grant is eager to take his squad on the road in search of its first win away from Coleman Coliseum this season.
"It's another opportunity to go out and try to get a win," Grant said of facing OSU. "Anything that's happened in the past is in the past. Hopefully, for our basketball team, we'll understand we're not playing the opponents we played before. We're playing a very good Oklahoma State team and we've got to do our best and compete."
The Classic, staged in the Oklahoma City Arena, will feature Oklahoma taking on Cincinnati in the second game of the doubleheader. This year is the 75th annual in the All-College Classic history, making it college basketball's oldest event and the Tide will be partaking in the event for the eighth time.
Oklahoma State returns to the court after a week off for finals and last played on Dec. 11 with an 84-70 win over Missouri State to improve to 9-1. The team's lone loss came to Virginia Tech in the 76 Classic on Nov. 26. Marshall Moses leads OSU with 18.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game after scoring 13 points with nine rebounds in his last outing.
"He's always been a good athlete but I think now he's extended his game to where he's got a variety of moves in the post and is their go-to-guy in the post," Grant said of Moses, a player he recruited out of high school. "He's really impacting winning and playing on both ends of the floor. We're going to have to do a great job on the interior keeping him under control and neutralizing the frontcourt."
Meanwhile, the Tide has been led in its last two games by the resurgent JaMychal Green with back-to-back double-doubles. On Wednesday he returned to the starting lineup with 16 points and 15 rebounds. On the season, he has averaged 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds. Despite being held to single digits for the first time this season against SLU, Tony Mitchell has been the team's most consistent scorer of late, averaging 14.0 points and 9.8 rebounds in the last five games with a pair of double-doubles.
Alabama and OSU have met five times, and once in the All-College Classic, with Alabama holding a 3-2 advantage in the series. The teams last met in the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament with OSU winning, 66-52, en route to the Final Four.
