Alabama
Ball State
Alabama Men’s Basketball Welcomes Ball State on Friday Night
11/17/2016 3:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Crimson Tide and Cardinals will meet for first time in series history
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama ends its three-game homestand to begin the season when it squares off against the Ball State Cardinals on Friday at 8 p.m. CT. The contest will mark the second round of the 2016 Las Vegas Main Event. The Tide opened the event at home on Nov. 11, with a 70-53 victory over Coastal Carolina.
Friday's game will be televised on SEC Network with Dave Baker and Kyle Macy on the call. Fans can listen to the radio broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network as Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) will call all the action. Live stats for the contest can accessed through RollTide.com, while in-game updates and photos will be made available on Twitter on @AlabamaMBB.
PROMOTIONS
Academic Achievement Night
$5 Tickets for all faculty and staff
Alabama Men's Basketball Reunion – Former letterwinners and coaches will be honored at halftime
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Following Friday's contest, both teams will depart for Las Vegas to participate in the final rounds of the Main Event tournament. The Crimson Tide will take on Valparaiso on Monday night in the Heavyweight Division with BYU and Saint Louis squaring off on the other side of the bracket. Meanwhile, the Cardinals will meet Coppin State in the Middleweight Division on Monday and Southern Utah on Wednesday.
- Alabama suffered its first loss of the 2016-17 campaign, falling to Dayton in the final minutes, 77-72, on Tuesday afternoon. The contest was a part of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. Forward Braxton Key and guard Corban Collins led the Tide with 15 points each, while redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram added 14 points and seven assists in the losing effort.
- Alabama returns two starters and eight letterwinners from last season's 18-15 team that reached the National Invitation Tournament. The Crimson Tide will have to find a way to replace three of its top four scorers and its top three assist leaders from the 2015-16 squad. Part of that void will be filled with the return of redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram, who started each of the first seven games of the year before suffering a season-ending foot injury. At the time of his injury, Ingram was leading the team in assists and rebounds from his point guard position. Head coach Avery Johnson also welcomes back senior forward Shannon Hale, who returns as the team's leading scorer at 10.points per game.
- The Tide will next travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on the Valparaiso Crusadors on Monday night at 9 p.m. PT (11 p.m. CT). The contest, which will not be televised, can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
- Alabama fell to 1-1 on the year following a 77-72 loss to the Dayton Flyers last Tuesday afternoon. The contest was a part of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. The five-point defeat snapped a 16-game home winning streak against non-conference competition in Coleman Coliseum. The last time an Alabama team lost to a non-conference opponent prior to the Dayton game came on Dec. 21, 2013, against Xavier (lost 77-74).
- The Crimson Tide outrebounded the Flyers 40-28 for the game, including an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass. However, Alabama was not able to take advantage of the extra possessions, as it owned just a 12-9 edge in second-chance points.
- Alabama opened the season in front of 14,579 fans, which marked the second straight season the Tide had a season-opening crowd of more than 14,000 fans (14,970 vs. Kennesaw State in 2015-16 season opener). Through its first two home games this year, Alabama is averaging 12,706 fans per game.
ALABAMA COMPETING IN 104TH SEASON OF BASKETBALL
• Alabama has begun its 104th season of basketball in 2016-17.
• The Tide has an all-time record of 1,619-1,000-1 (.618), which includes a 765-588 (.565) record in SEC play.
• Alabama ranks second in the SEC in league victories and all-time winning percentage.
• UA has made 33 NCAA (19) or NIT (14) appearances and has won seven SEC regular-season titles and six SEC Tournament championships.
ALABAMA DROPS NARROW DECISION TO DAYTON, 77-72
• Alabama fell to Dayton, 77-72, on Tuesday afternoon in a contest that went down to the final seconds.
• Senior Corban Collins and freshman Braxton Key led the Tide with 15 points each. Key also grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram also had a stellar game, has he collected 14 points and a team-leading seven assists compared to only two turnovers.
• Alabama got off to a great start with a 10-2 run over the opening 2:49 of the game. However, Dayton, which entered the game ranked No. 26 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls, responded with a 16-4 run of its own over the next eight-plus minutes to grab an 18-14 lead with 9:20 to play in the opening stanza. Alabama bounced back with an 11-2 run of its own to take a 24-20 lead six minutes to play. Alabama would not trail for the rest of the first half, taking a 36-31 lead to the locker room.
• The Tide could not extend its lead as Alabama struggled to hit its shots consistently early in the second half. However, the defense kept the Tide in the game, as Alabama maintained a lead up until the 7:05 mark when Dayton's Charles Cooke converted a layup to give the Flyers a 54-53 lead. The layup was part of a 7-0 spurt that turned a 53-49 Alabama lead into a 56-53 advantage for the Flyers.
• The Tide continued to battle and regained the lead once again on a Key layup with 2:28 remaining to give his team a 64-63 edge. But a pair of free throws by Cooke followed by a crucial three-pointer from Ryan Mikesell gave Dayton the lead for good.
ALABAMA VS. DAYTON: QUICK HITS
• Alabama jumped out to a 10-2 lead just 2:18 into the contest. However, from that point on neither team would lead by more than five points over the final 35 minutes of play. In all, the game featured seven ties and five lead changes.
• The Tide defense finished the game with three blocks and forced 11 turnovers in the contest. Alabama outrebounded the Flyers, 40-28, for the game and owned an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
• Alabama's newcomers (includes redshirts and transfers) combined to score 53 of the Tide's 72 points on the night.
• Alabama attempted 15 more shots in the contest than Dayton (59 attempts compared to 44 attempts). However, the Tide made one less field goal that did the Flyers (23-24).
• Dayton shot a scorching 60.9 percent in the second half (14-of-23), compared to Alabama's 40.6 percent (13-of-32). For the game, the Tide shot just 39 percent (23-of-59), while Dayton was at 54.5 percent (24-of-44).
LEADING THE SEC
• Alabama ranked in a tie for tops in the SEC when it came to Graduation Success Rate (GSR) among men's basketball schools in the league.
• Alabama, along with Georgia, were the only men's basketball program in the SEC that boasted a perfect 100 percent in the 2015-16 GSR results.
• The GSR factors students who entered school from 2006-09 and graduated within six years of their start date.
NEWCOMERS MAKING AN IMPACT
• Including Dazon Ingram who is a redshirt freshman, the Crimson Tide welcomed seven newcomers who are currently playing in Avery Johnson's 11-man rotation to begin the season.
• The seven players are combining to average 47.9 of Alabama's 71.0 points per game average through its two contests, which equates to approximately 67 percent of the Tide's scoring output on the year.
• The group is also dishing out 88 percent of the Tide's assists (21 of the team's 24 total assists) and pulling down 48 percent of the team's boards (19.0 of UA's 39.5 total rebounding average).
PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
• After missing all but seven games of his rookie season in 2015-16 due to a broken foot, redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram has picked up where he left off when he got injured.
• Ingram started each of the Tide's first seven games last season prior to suffering the injury. At the time, he led the team with 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, ranked second in steals (1.1 spg), third in minutes per contest (25.6 mpg) and fourth in points per game (7.7) and field goal percentage (.541).
• Through two games this year, Ingram leads Alabama in assists (6.0 apg), ranks second in scoring average (12.5 ppg) and is third in rebounding (3.5 rpg).
• In addition to posting solid numbers, Ingram also leads the team in both field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. The Theodore, Ala., native has connected on 75 percent (9-of-12) from the floor and 60 percent (3-of-5) from beyond the arc.
AVERY JOHNSON SIGNS NATION'S NO. 3 RECRUITING CLASS
• It was a landmark Signing Day for The University of Alabama men's basketball program, as head coach Avery Johnson officially announced the Tide's 2017 class on Nov. 11.
• The Crimson Tide's five-man signing class is rated as high as No. 3 in the country according to Scout.com and Rivals.com, which is the highest-ranked signing class in program history. Meanwhile, ESPN.com and 247sports.com ranks the class as the fourth-best in the nation.
• The five newest members of the Alabama men's basketball program include guards Herb Jones, John Petty and Collin Sexton and forwards Alex Reese and Galin Smith. All five were rated as either four or five star recruits, while all were top-100 recruits in the nation, according to Rivals.com. Bios on all five signees can be found on page 3 of the 2016-17 game notes.
• Alabama not only nabbed the three top recruits in the state of Alabama in Petty, Reese and Jones, but also the top player in the state of Georgia in Sexton and the top big man in the state of Mississippi in Smith.
• Coach Avery Johnson's thoughts on this year's signing class: "We're excited about this 2017 recruiting class. All five of the players have signed their NLI with us, and I would like to thank their families have committed to us. I am extremely proud of all of the hard work that our assistant coaches and all of our auxiliary staff that has put into us having what we feel is the best recruiting class in The University of Alabama men's basketball history. Now, obviously, with a recruiting class, they have to come in and develop and be coachable and learn, mature, grow and develop. We have to win some games for it to really be a truly, great recruiting class. Times of Wimp Sanderson and C.M. Newton, they had some terrific, high-level, pro-like players; we are trying to duplicate and imitate a lot of their success in recruiting and hopefully their success on the court."
HOME SWEET HOME
• Dating back to the 2009-10 season, Alabama owns a record of 97-27 (.782) on the Coleman Coliseum floor, including a 10-5 mark during the 2015-16 season. During the 2013-14 season, the Tide finished with a 13-4 mark at home, while finished with a 14-5 record in home games during the 2014-15 campaign.
• Since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, the Tide has won 86 of the last 107 games played under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum (86-21; .804).
• Overall, Alabama owns a record of 555-130 (.811) in the facility's 48th season of use.
• Since 2009, Alabama owns a home record of 43-17 (.717) against SEC competition. Since 2011, the Tide boasts a 38-13 (.745) mark at home against the conference.
AVERY JOHNSON HAS SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR AT ALABAMA
• Avery Johnson closed out a successful first season as the head men's basketball coach at The University of Alabama. Picked to finish 13th out of 14 teams in the Southeastern Conference in a preseason coaches poll, the Crimson Tide closed the year with an 18-15 overall record and reached the 2016 National Invitation Tournament.
• The Tide accomplished a lot of milestones under Johnson's guidance during the 2015-16 season. Included in those was setting a new single-season average attendance record of 13,110 fans per game. Additionally, Alabama defeated four top-25 teams on the year – the most victories over ranked opponents since the 2001-02 season – after going a combined 0-18 over the previous four years in such contests.
• Other highlights included 18 victories last season which tied Johnson for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history (matched Wimp Sanderson's 18 wins during his inaugural season in 1980-81). In addition, Johnson led the Tide to eight wins away from Coleman Coliseum which were the most since the 2011-12 campaign. Of those eight road wins, the biggest came when the Tide secured a 61-55 win at Florida, which not only snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Gators, but also was Alabama's first win in Gainesville since 1995.
• Johnson was introduced as Alabama's 20th head men's basketball coach on April 8, 2015. Johnson, who led the San Antonio Spurs to the 1999 NBA title and was named the 2006 NBA Coach of the Year, came to the Capstone after a successful coaching career in the NBA. Johnson boasted a 254-186 (.577) career coaching record after spending seven-plus seasons as a head coach in the NBA (Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets).
• During his time in Dallas, Johnson led the Mavericks to the postseason in each of his three-plus seasons as head coach. He led the Mavericks to a record of 194-70 (.735) and set the record for reaching the 50-win plateau (62 games) and the 150-win plateau (191 games) the fastest.
• In 16 NBA seasons as a player, he averaged 8.4 points, 5.5 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 25.3 minutes played in 1,054 career games with seven different teams. Known as "The Little General" for his on-court leadership and diminutive stature, Johnson helped guide the San Antonio Spurs to an NBA Championship in 1999.
• On March, 28 2003, as a member of the Mavericks, Johnson became the 75th player in league history to play 1,000 career games. At 5-11, he joined Calvin Murphy as the only other player under 6-feet in height to reach that milestone. He is still the Spurs' all-time leader in assists (4,474) and ranks 28th in NBA history in the same category. In recognition for his contributions to the Spurs organization, Johnson's No. 6 jersey was retired in December of 2007.
• The New Orleans native played his final two collegiate seasons at Southern University, leading the NCAA in assists in each of his two years, and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year and the MVP of the conference tournament as both a junior and senior.
• He still owns several NCAA Division I records, including most assists in a single game (22 – shared with two other players), most 20-or-more assist games (4), the highest single season assist average (13.3) and the highest career assist average (12.0). As a senior in 1988, he averaged 11.4 points per game, making him the first men's Division I player ever to average double figures in points and assists in the same season.
• Johnson received a degree in psychology in 1988 from Southern University. He married his wife Cassandra in July of 1991 in New Orleans. They have two children, Christianne and Avery Jr., who transferred to Alabama from Texas A&M and sat out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
TIDE RANKED NO. 22 IN ATTENDANCE, NO. 2 IN ATTENDANCE INCREASE
• The NCAA released its attendance numbers for the 2015-16 men's basketball season on June 8 and Alabama ranked second in the nation in "Largest Increase for Average Attendance from Previous Year," improving 2,934 fans per game from 10,176 in 2014-15 to 13,110 in 2015-16.
• Furthermore, Alabama's average attendance from the 2015-16 season ranked 22nd in the nation among Division I home attendance leaders, while the Southeastern Conference as a whole ranked second in the nation in average attendance at 11,144. That number was +325 in average from a year ago, which led all conferences.
• The Crimson Tide set a school record by averaging 13,110 fans per game during the first year under Johnson, topping the former mark of 12,484 fans per game during the 2011-12 campaign.
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
