Alabama
Southern Miss
Alabama Men's Basketball Drops Southern Miss, 81-67
11/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Senior guard Levi Randolph scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds, as the Alabama men's basketball team earned its third consecutive victory on the early season, taking down Southern Miss, 81-67, on Thursday evening at Coleman Coliseum. Alabama is now 3-0 on the year while Southern Miss drops to 2-1.
"It was a great win tonight for our guys," said Alabama head coach Anthony Grant. "With Southern Miss coming in, we knew the history and tradition of their program and how hard those guys play. I've known (head coach) Doc (Sadler) for a long time, and I know that he's a heck of a coach, his guys are always going to come in and compete. They shot the ball really well to start the game from the three-point line. I though our guys did a good job from a defensive standpoint, outside of the three-point line. I thought we did a good job of keeping them off the glass and did a good job of contesting their shots."
The Tide started off hot from the opening tip, scoring 26 points and going 9-of-9 from the floor including 3-of-3 from deep, before missing its first basket with 10:08 left to play in the first half. Of those first 26 points, Randolph had 15. Alabama went into the half up 38-30 while shooting 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the floor and 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from behind the three-point line.
Sophomore forward Shannon Hale recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. It marks the third straight game that the Crimson Tide had a player record a double-double. Alabama only had two double-doubles all of last year, both by guard Rodney Cooper.
Junior guard Ricky Tarrant had a team-high three steals to go along with 18 points, 15 of those points coming in the second half. Tarrant has averaged 12 points in the second half over the last two games.
"I thought tonight we played more of a complete game than we did the last time we were out," Grant said. "That's what we want to do - continue to get better each night. We're learning as we go, so to speak. Tonight we got a plus-14 rebounding margin. Those kinds of things have been an Achilles heel for us. It was good to see Shannon Hale go out tonight and get a double-double. He got 11 rebounds and his first career double-double. There were a lot of good things, in terms of the contributions we're getting from a lot of different places."
With the 81 points, the Tide has now scored 80-plus points in three consecutive games to start the season for the first time since 2007-08. Alabama held a large advantage in rebounds as they outrebounded Southern Miss, 36-22.
The Tide heads to Kansas City, Mo., for its first road trip on the early season as it continues play in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic on Monday, Nov. 24. The Tide will take on No. 14 Iowa State in the Semifinals with the two teams tipping off at 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The game can also be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
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