Alabama
11-3,6-0SEC
Arkansas
10-4,2-4SEC
Alabama Continues Winning Ways with a 90-59 win over Arkansas on Saturday
1/16/2021 5:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Tide improves to 6-0 in SEC play and captures seventh-straight win behind Petty’s record-breaking night
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men’s basketball team claimed its seventh consecutive victory, and sixth-straight Southeastern Conference win, as it rolled past Arkansas, 90-59, on Saturday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum. With the victory, the Crimson Tide improved to 11-3 overall and a perfect 6-0 in league play, which is its best conference start since beginning the 1987 conference season with eight consecutive wins.
The 31-point win was the Crimson Tide’s largest victory in SEC play since defeating Mississippi State 75-43 in Starkville, Miss., on Jan. 16, 2013. It is also the first time since the 2011-12 campaign that Alabama has won seven consecutive games.
Guard John Petty Jr. had a team-leading 17 points on the strength of 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. With his five threes on the night, Petty set the program’s all-time three-point record with 265 career threes surpassing former standout Brian Williams who had 263 threes from 1996-99. Additionally, Petty (1,313 points) became the 28th player in program history to eclipse 1,300 career points.
Guard Jaden Shackelford collected 16 points and drained four threes, while forward Herbert Jones added 13 points in the victory.
Arkansas was led by guard Moses Moody who finished with a game-high 28 points and nine boards in the losing effort.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
“It was a big win. We talked about what type of character would we have after the big win at Kentucky. We knew Arkansas was going to bring everything they had. Our guys responded great. We were up on them big early in the game last year and they flipped the script on us and won. We talked about that and wanted to keep guarding like we had been. Our attention to detail on defense was great. I am really happy for Petty who became the programs’ leader in three pointers. He came back for his senior year and he is having a great year. (Joshua) Primo won the Blue Collar Hard Hat Award. He did a lot of small things right even though he did not shoot it well this game. It was great to get some of the younger guys in there. Darius (Miles) shot it great; he’s a lefty like Herb and is versatile. The dunk Keon (Ambrose-Hylton) had, hopefully that will be on Sportscenter. He comes in every day and works hard so I’m really happy for all of our guys."
#SCTop10 THIS MAN!! @KeonAmbrose#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/Tn8ZViz5Ct
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) January 17, 2021
Team Stats
- Alabama’s 31-point victory was its largest win of the season
- The Tide led for 38:41 of the game and by as many as 36 points
- UA shot 48.4 percent from the field and 41.7 percent (15-of-36) from three-point range while limiting Arkansas to 33.3 percent from the field and just 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from beyond the arc
- Alabama won the battle of the boards with 43 rebounds led to 20 fast break points while the Razorbacks pulled down 36 rebounds
- With Jordan Bruner (meniscus) out and Jahvon Quinerly (medical condition) and Herbert Jones (finger injury) limited, the Alabama benched shined with 38 points compared to only 13 bench points by Arkansas
- Alabama improved to 10-0 this year when scoring 80 or more points in a contest
Gallery: 011620 MBB vs Arkansas
First Half
- Following a 3-3 tie, Alabama went on a 14-2 scoring run forcing the Razorbacks into a timeout with 12:36 remaining in the opening stanza
- The Tide continued its scoring run with an 8-3 spurt after the timeout, pushing its lead to 22-5 with 10:12 left to play in the first half
- With UA leading by 16, 33-17 with 4:49 left to go in the first half, the Tide continued its stellar shooting and went on a 9-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the half, 42-19, with just under two minutes left before intermission
- Alabama would go on to take a 42-19 lead into the locker room
- Petty scored 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field and converted 3-of-6 from the three-point line. With his 11 first half points
- Petty became the 28th player in program history to reach at least 1,300 points for his career (1,307) with 11 first half points
Second Half
- Arkansas began the second half by scoring the first five points to force an Alabama timeout
- Alabama held the 55-35 advantage at the second media timeout before going on a 13-2 run to take a 66-35 lead with 13:45 left to play
- John Petty Jr. made back-to-back three pointers to become the program’s all-time three-point shooting leader and gave Alabama the 69-37 lead at the 12:18 mark
- Darius Miles knocked down the first three of his career to give the Tide its largest lead of the game at 36 points (77-41)
- Both Miles (eight points) and Keon Ambrose-Hylton (nine points) had season-high totals in the second half along
Next Up
- The Tide will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the LSU Tigers on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
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.
