Alabama
Clemson
Alabama Men’s Basketball Heads to Magic City for BBVA Compass Vulcan Classic
12/17/2016 12:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Crimson Tide and will welcome Clemson in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the second consecutive year, Alabama will play a "home" game in Birmingham, Ala., at Legacy Arena in the BBVA Compass Vulcan Classic. This year, the Tide will welcome the Clemson Tigers for the annual game, which will tip off on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT.
Alabama and Clemson will meet for the second consecutive season and the 10th time in series history when they square off on the hardwood on Sunday afternoon. Last season, the Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers with a narrow 51-50 victory in Greenville, S.C.
Most recently, Alabama snapped a two-game losing skid when it captured a 78-61 victory on Thursday night in Coleman Coliseum. Sophomore forward Donta Hall collected a career-best 15 points to go along with eight boards to lead the Tide. It was his second consecutive start and the second straight game he set a new career-best scoring mark.
A special express gate at the South entrance of the arena will be available to all BBVA Compass customers who display their bank cards.
Sunday's game will be televised on ESPNU with Doug Bell (play-by-play) and Brooke Weisbrod (analyst) 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.
HOW TO WATCH
RADIO: Crimson Tide Sports Network
TV: ESPNU
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/alabama/mbball/
SOCIAL MEDIA: @AlabamaMBB
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Clemson and Alabama will meet for the 10th time in program history on Sunday afternoon and for the second straight season. The Tigers own a 5-4 edge in the all-time series.
- Sunday's contest marks the 69th game in program history the Tide has played in Birmingham. Alabama owns an all-time record of 46-22 when playing in the Magic City.
- Alabama is a perfect 5-0 when holding teams to fewer than 62 points, but falls to 0-4 when allowing the opposition to score more than 62.
- The Tide does not have a single player averaging in double figures, however, seven Alabama players average 6.0 or more points per contest.
- The Crimson Tide comes into Sunday's game holding opponents to 62.6 points per game. That number ranks second in the SEC and 33rd nationally (as of Dec. 17).
- The Alabama bench has outscored its counterparts in seven of its nine games this year. For the year, the Alabama reserves is outscoring its counterparts by 14.7 points a game (31.3-16.6).
- Alabama will next be in action on Wednesday, Dec. 21, when it takes on the Arkansas State Red Wolves in the Rocket City Classic. The game will be played in Huntsville, Ala., at the Von Braun Center.
SCOUTING CLEMSON
• Head coach Brad Brownell became the 21st men's basketball head coach in Clemson history on April 13, 2010.This season marks Brownell's 15th season in Division I, having previously coached four years each at UNC Wilmington and Wright State before coming to Clemson.
• Brownell carries a career record of 280-174 overall, 113-89 at Clemson. Brownell is Clemson's career winning percentage leader against ACC competition, and has led the Tigers to 10 regular-season wins in two of the past three seasons.
• A reason for Clemson's success has been due to its ability to take care of the ball. The Tigers rank seventh in the nation in turnover margin at +6.4 and is 29th nationally in assist-turnover ratio at 1.40.
• Clemson has made 158 free throws, compared to just 69 for the opposition. In fact, the Tigers have made 67 more at the foul line than their opponents have attempted. In fact, the Tigers have made at least four more free throws than each opponent this year, with a high disparity of +18 in the most recent outing against Mercer (12/10).
• Clemson has committed the fewest fouls per game of any team in the country at just 13.3 per contest. The Tigers have had 15 or less fouls in their last five games.
• CLEMSON PROBABLE STARTERS (based off previous game): Guards: Avry Homes (11.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, .346 3FG%), Shelton Mitchell (9.2 ppg, 2.8 apg); Forwards: Jaron Blossomgame (18.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, .504 FG%), Donte Grantham (12.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .356 3FG%); Center: Sidy Djitte (8.8 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 1.1 bpg, .553 FG%).
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama will head to the Magic City to take on the Clemson Tigers in the BBVA Compass Vulcan Classic on Sunday afternoon. It marks the second consecutive season the Tide will host the event in Birmingham. In the 2015 Vulcan Classic, Alabama owned a 12-point lead at the half, but fell just short of pulling off an upset, as the Tide dropped a 72-68 decision to Oregon.
• Alabama does not have a player averaging double figures through its nine games played this season, but boast seven guys who contribute six or more points per game. The Tide's top two scorers are both freshmen, led by forward Braxton Key at 9.9 points per game. Guard Dazon Ingram adds 9.7 points per contest as the duo are the only two players to average more than nine points a game for the Tide.
• Ingram also leads the team in assists (4.0 apg), steals (1.2 spg) and minutes (26.6). Meanwhile, Key is second on the squad in rebounding (4.6 rpg), assists (2.0 apg) and three-point shooting (.391).
• Sophomore center Donta Hall tops the team in rebounding (6.1 rpg) and field goal percentage (.697), while ranking second in blocks (1.3 bpg). Graduate senior Corban Collins is the team's top three-point shooter (.412) and ranks third in scoring at 8.8 ppg.
• As a team, Alabama is outscoring the competition by 6.2 points per game (68.8-62.6) and outrebounding opponents by 2.7 rebounds per game (35.8-33.1). The Tide is shooting .439 from the field and .333 from beyond the arc as a team.
ALABAMA-USC UPSTATE: AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
• What Won The Game For UA: Alabama connected on a season-best 53.8 percent from the field (31-of-58) en route to the victory. In fact, when taking away the Tide's three-point numbers (6-of-20), Alabama connected on 25-of-38 (.658) from inside the arc in the win.
• The Difference Maker: Donta Hall was a force inside the paint for the Tide. The Luverne, Ala., native made his second career start and responded by going for a career-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and two dunks. He also added eight rebounds and a pair of assists.
• The Wow Stat: Alabama scored 48 of its 78 points inside the paint, which was by far a season high. The Tide also established single-game season highs in rebounds (44), assists (16) field goals made (31) and field goal percentage (.534).
ALABAMA'S RICH HISTORY IN BIRMINGHAM
• The Alabama men's basketball team will make its second appearance in as many years in Birmingham's Legacy Arena, but this will mark the Tide's 69th game played in the Magic City.
• The Tide owns an all-time record of 46-22 when playing in Birmingham and have won 12 of its last 16 games played there.
• The game against Clemson will be the second year of the Vulcan Classic. Alabama is 0-1 in the event after dropping a narrow 72-68 decision to Oregon in last year's event.
• Alabama's largest margin of victory when playing in Birmingham came on Dec. 9, 1955 vs. TCU, when the Tide captured an 85-46 victory (39 points). Alabama's largest margin of defeat is 26 points which happened on two occasions, both coming against Kentucky. The Tide fell 57-31 to the Wildcats on Jan. 31, 1938 and 80-54 on March 15, 1992.
BENCH SUPPORT
• The Alabama bench has been a weapon through the Tide's opening nine contests, highlighted by the reserves scoring 59 of the team's 77 points in a 77-59 win over Ball State on Nov. 18.
• The 59 points scored by the bench marked the most scored by any Tide reserve group this century. In fact, it was the most points scored by Alabama's reserves since going for 59 points in a 95-48 victory over Florida A&M on Dec. 17, 1994.
• Alabama's bench outscored Charleston Southern's reserves, 46-20. The Tide bench has now outscored its counterparts in six of its first eight games this season.
• The Tide's back-ups have not been outscored in eight consecutive games and only been outscored once on the year (season opener vs. Coastal Carolina).
• For the year, Alabama's reserves has outscored its counterpart by a total margin of 282-149. That averages out to +14.8 points per game (31.3-16.6).
• Below is a breakdown of the Tide's bench production each game compared to its counterparts.
Game UA Bench Opp Bench +/-
Nov. 11 vs. Coastal Carolina 17 22 -5
Nov. 15 vs. Dayton 27 12 +15
Nov. 18 vs. Ball State 59 13 +46
Nov. 21 vs. Valparaiso 26 8 +18
Nov. 23 vs. Saint Louis 23 15 +8
Nov. 29 Charleston Southern 46 20 +26
Dec. 2 at Texas 33 19 +14
Dec. 11 at Oregon 19 19 0
Dec. 15 USC Upstate 32 21 +11
TOTALS 282 149 +133
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