Men's Basketball Hosts Arkansas Saturday Evening
2/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2011
| Alabama Basketball Preview - vs. Arkansas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alabama (17-8, 9-2 SEC) vs. Arkansas (16-9, 5-6 SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's basketball team returns to friendly Coleman Coliseum Saturday afternoon to host Arkansas in the second meeting between the two programs this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the contest being televised by Fox Sports South and on radio courtesy of the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
All remaining tickets for Saturday's contest have been sold according to the Alabama athletic ticket office to give the Crimson Tide its third sellout crowd of the season and second straight home sellout.
"Our fans, have been tremendous," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "It has certainly helped our team in terms of the energy our fans bring and the excitement that is in the building."
Alabama is 13-0 at home this season and has won of 12 of its last 14 games to lead the Western Division with a 9-2 record and a 17-8 overall mark. However, Arkansas is one of the two SEC teams to defeat the Tide this season with a 70-65 decision in Fayetteville on Jan. 15. The Razorbacks roll into Tuscaloosa at 5-6 in the SEC and 16-9 overall.
"In that game Arkansas did a great job of being aggressive and really attacked us on both ends of the floor," Grant said of the January loss. "We've got to understand who they are as a basketball team and I assume it will be the same approach in terms of the effort and intensity they bring on the defensive end."
Alabama's defense, ranked sixth in the nation in points allowed at 58.3, will have its collective hands full guarding one of the top three-point shooters in the nation in Arkansas' Rotnei Clarke who is averaging a team-high 13.6 points per game on 2.8 three-pointers per game.
"They've got a lot of very good players and Clarke is a part of it because of his ability to stretch the defense and he's scoring a variety of ways," Grant said.
The Crimson Tide is led by JaMychal Green's 17.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in SEC play. In Thursday's win at LSU, the junior scored a game-high 18 points with seven boards.
Following Saturday's game, the Tide will remain at home to face in-state rival Auburn on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
