Alabama
Liberty
Alabama Faces Liberty on Tuesday Night in Huntsville for Rocket City Classic
12/17/2018 10:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide and Flames will tip off at 7 p.m. CT in third annual event
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will take on the Liberty Flames in the Rocket City Classic, which is set for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala. This year's contest, which will air on SEC Network+, marks the third year of the annual event.
This year's contest between Alabama and Liberty is the third consecutive year of the Rocket City Classic. Alabama owns a perfect 2-0 mark in the previous years of the event, which were both played at the Von Braun Center in front of sellout crowds. The Crimson Tide defeated Arkansas State, 67-52, in first year of the event in 2016 and followed that with an 80-79 victory over Mercer last season in Huntsville.
Similar to the previous years that Alabama has played in the event, the team does work in the community the day prior to the game. This year, the student-athletes and staff members spoke, read and played with children at the Whitesburg P8 elementary school.
The Crimson Tide has always had a rich history with Huntsville-area natives being a part of its program. This year's roster is no different as it features three student-athletes from the area. Graduate student Riley Norris (Albertville, Ala./Albertville HS), sophomore John Petty Jr. (Huntsville, Ala./Mae Jemison HS) and freshman Kira Lewis Jr. (Meridianville, Ala./Hazel Green HS) all hail from the Huntsville area. Additionally, Blake Gray, the director of player development, is a Huntsville native. Former UA players from the area include Keith Askins (Athens), Richard Hendrix (Huntsville), Bobby Lee Hurt (Huntsville) and Levi Randolph (Madison), among others.
THE BROADCAST
• Tuesday's game will air on SEC Network+ with Eli Gold and Wimp Sanderson on the call.
• The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network, Chris Stewart (play-by-play) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
NOTES YOU NEEED TO KNOW
• Alabama is coming off a nine-day break between games due to final exams, as the Tide last played on Dec. 9 vs. Arizona. In that contest, the Crimson Tide defeated the Wildcats by a final score of 76-73 to improve to 6-3 on the year and 4-1 in home contests. It marked the fifth consecutive game that Alabama has played in which the outcome was decided by six or fewer points.
• A pair of Alabama men's basketball players participated in the University of Alabama commencement ceremony this past Saturday. Both Dazon Ingram (consumer science) and Donta Hall (public health) each earned their undergraduate degree over the weekend, giving the Crimson Tide four players on its current roster who have earned their bachelors (Avery Johnson Jr. and Riley Norris both graduated last season). With three other men's basketball players who are currently on pace to graduate in May of 2019, this year's 15-man roster will boast a total of seven college graduates, which ranks first in the nation among all D-I basketball programs.
• The Tide has won the rebounding battle in all nine of its games to begin the season. For the year, Alabama ranks fourth in the SEC in rebounding margin (+6.8), outrebounding the opposition by an average of 39.9-32.2. Furthermore, UA is fourth in the conference in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 12.8 heading into the game against Liberty. As a result of its work on the offensive glass, the Tide is outscoring opponents by an average of +3.4 points per game (12.8-9.4) in second chance points.
• Freshman Kira Lewis Jr. and sophomore Alex Reese have been an impressive offensive combination over the Tide's last five games. During the stretch, both Lewis (19.4 ppg) and Reese (13.2 ppg) have averaged a combined 32.6 points per game between the duo. Lewis is shooting 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field and 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from beyond the arc over the five-game stretch, while Reese is shooting 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from beyond the arc and 88.2 percent (15-of-17) from the free throw line.
• The Crimson Tide's last five games have been all decided by six or fewer points (UA is 3-2 in those contests).
• Alabama returns to action on Friday night when it welcomes the Penn State Nittany Lions to Coleman Coliseum. The contest, which will be televised on SEC Network, will tip at 8 p.m. CT.
ABOUT ALABAMA
• Alabama snapped its two-game losing streak with a 76-73 victory over the Arizona Wildcats on Dec. 9 inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide led by as many as 19 points in the opening half before going into the locker with a 39-30 lead. The Wildcats rallied to take a two-point lead midway through the second half. However, Alabama weathered the come-from-behind effort and held on for the three-point win.
• Freshman guard Kira Lewis Jr. leads a balanced scoring attack that features seven Alabama players averaging 7.4 points per game or more. Two UA players average in double digits as Lewis' 15.4 points per game tops the Tide, while sophomore John Petty is second on the team with 10.9 ppg. Petty leads UA in minutes (31.8 mpg) and is second in rebounds (5.1 rpg), assists (2.3 apg) and threes made (16). Meanwhile, Lewis is the team leader in total assists (21), threes made (18) and free throw shooting (25-of-30, .833).
• Senior Donta Hall is third and the team in scoring average (9.2 ppg) and tops the Tide in total dunks (13), rebounds (7.6 rpg), blocks (1.9 bpg) and double-doubles (3). Junior Tevin Mack, who is averaging 12.0 points and 3.5 rebounds over his last two contests, and sophomore Alex Reese are both averaging 8.8 ppg, while junior Dazon Ingram, who did not play in the second half of the is the Crimson Tide's win over Arizona due to a back injury, is averaging 8.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-leading 2.5 assists per game. Finally, sophomore Herbert Jones averages 7.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He also is considered one of the top defenders in the Southeastern Conference, as he tops UA with 13 charges taken and 7 steals.
• As a team, Alabama enters its game Tuesday as one of the top rebounding teams in the SEC. The Tide has outrebounded all nine of its opponents on the year and ranks fourth in the SEC with a +6.8 advantage on the glass (39.0-32.2). UA is shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 32.8 percent from beyond the arc on the year, while outscoring the competition by 3.8 points per game (75.8-72.0).
• Alabama welcomed back three of its top four and nine of the top 11 scorers from last season's squad. Leading the list of returnees is Hall, who paces all returning players in scoring (10.6 ppg), rebounding (6.6 rpg), blocks (2.0 bpg), dunks (75) and field goal percentage (.726) .
ABOUT LIBERTY
• The Liberty men's basketball team is in its first-ever season as a full-fledged member of the ASUN Conference. The Flames were picked to finish third in the preseason poll of their inaugural year. In addition, junior forward Scottie James was named to the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team. Last season, James averaged 13.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while shooting 61.6 percent from the field and posting 11 double-doubles.
• Liberty has posted 20-plus wins in back-to-back seasons (21 in 2016-17 and 22 in 2017-18) for the first time in program history. In doing so, the Flames set the school record for most wins (43) in a two-year span during its DI era, breaking the school record of 40 set back in 1996 (17 wins) and 1997 (23 wins).
• Liberty comes into Tuesday's contest having won six of its last seven games to improve to 9-2 on the season. Most recently, the Flames captured a 96-55 win over Kentucky Christian which marked the team's third win by more than 40 points and eighth double-digit victory on the year. Liberty comes into the game outscoring the competition by 22.5 points (81.3-58.8), while shooting 50.6 percent as a team from the floor and 38.6 percent from beyond the arc.
• Junior forward Scottie James leads four players who average double figures at 12.6 points per contest, while also topping the Flames in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (.750). Freshman guard Darius McGhee (11.4 ppg), senior guard sophomore guard/forward Lovell Cabbil (10.8 ppg) and Elijah Cuffee (10.1 ppg) also average double figures for Liberty, while guard Caleb Homesley averages 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and a team-leading 3.5 assists per game.
• Head coach Ritchie McKay is in his sixth season as the men's basketball head coach and is in his fourth season of his second stint at Liberty after previously serving as the program's head coach from 2007-09. McKay owns a record of 104-78 (.571) in his six seasons at the helm of the Flames' program and is 269-236 (.533) in his 18th year as a head coach.
LEWIS JR. NAMED SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
• Alabama point guard Kira Lewis Jr. was tabbed the Southeastern Conference's Freshman of the Week, the league office announced on Dec. 10.
• In games against Georgia State and Arizona this past week, the 6-foot-3, 167-pound freshman from Meridianville, Ala., averaged 19.5 points and 4.5 threes made per game while shooting 60 percent from the beyond the arc (9-of-15) to secure the team's first weekly honor of the year.
• Lewis Jr. began the week by going 6-of-12 from the field and draining five three-pointers (5-of-10) on his way to team-high 19 points against Georgia State. He followed that performance by recording his fourth 20-point game of the year to lead the Tide in a three-point win over Arizona. Lewis Jr. connected on 7-of-13 shots from the floor, including hitting 4-of-5 treys on the night, and capped the performance by sinking a three-pointer with 13 seconds left to seal the victory over the Wildcats.
• For the season, Lewis Jr. has started all nine contests and leads Alabama in scoring at 15.4 points per game and three-point shooting (18-of-43, 41.9 percent), while also tying for the team lead in assists (21) and steals (7).
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
