Men's Basketball Set to Begin Postseason Play on Friday
3/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2011
| Alabama Basketball Preview - vs. Georgia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alabama (20-10, 12-4 SEC) vs. Georgia (21-10, 9-7 SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ATLANTA - The University of Alabama men's basketball team begins Southeastern Conference Tournament action in the Georgia Dome on Friday afternoon against the Georgia Bulldogs. Tipoff is scheduled for noon (CST) with the contest being televised by SEC Network affiliates and carried on radio by the Crimson Tide Sports Radio Network.
Alabama comes into the tournament as the Southeastern Conference's Western Division Champion with a 20-10 overall record and a 12-4 mark in the league. The Crimson Tide will face a familiar opponent on Friday in Georgia. UA closed out the regular season with 65-57 win at home against the Bulldogs. Georgia, the Eastern Division's No. 4 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 69-51 win over Auburn on Thursday.
"We know who we're playing now so we can get prepared for them," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "We just played them (Georgia) in our last game, so obviously we're quite familiar with them. It was a great win for their team and it should be an exciting game tomorrow."
After watching the first half of the Georgia and Auburn game, the Tide practiced at nearby Morehouse College for approximately two hours. Watching the Tide's practice was former UA great and seven-time NBA World Champion Robert Horry. Horry will be recognized at halftime of tomorrow's game as Alabama's SEC Legend.
Friday's game will be UA's seventh against an Eastern Division opponent this season and the Crimson Tide is 4-2 versus the SEC East this year, with wins over Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and most recently Georgia. Alabama comes into Friday's quarterfinal led by its stellar defense that allows just 58.8 points per game ranking third in the nation.
On the offensive side, first-team All-SEC junior forward JaMychal Green leads the Tide with 16.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Second-team All-SEC sophomore Tony Mitchell averages 15.5 points and 7.2 rebounds while freshman point guard and all-freshman team selection Trevor Releford is averaging 10.4 points and 3.4 assists per game.
On Thursday, Georgia was led by Trey Thompkins 22 points and 10 rebounds while Travis Leslie added 12 points and 10 boards to improve UGA to 21-10 overall this season.
A win against Georgia will advance the Crimson Tide to the tournament semifinals against the winner of Kentucky and Mississippi.
