Alabama
Memphis
Men's Basketball Defeats Memphis, 96-88 in 2024 Rocket City Classic
10/28/2024 10:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide had six players in double figures on Monday evening
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Alabama men's basketball team concluded the preseason with a 96-88 win over the Memphis Tigers on Monday night inside Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in the 2024 Rocket City Classic. Proceeds from the contest will support the Huntsville Hospital Foundation and their Caring House Children's Grief Program.
Mark Sears led the Crimson Tide with 20 total points, including three from beyond the arc on five attempts. The senior dished out four assists and picked up three steals by day's end. PJ Haggerty scored 32 points to lead the Memphis offense on Monday.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"There's a reason we play these exhibitions: so we can get exposed a little bit on what we have to work on. We were definitely exposed tonight a little bit. Our turnovers were not where we needed to be, and we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. Our defensive rebounding and our transition defense were exposed in a bad way. They got all over the offensive boards and had 36 fastbreak points. It's not good, so we have a lot of work to do before the regular season starts.
I thought it was good that we were able to get some young guys on the floor. Labaron Philon is a freshman, and he got to play, Aden Holloway is in his first year with our program and got to play decent minutes with some of the other guys being out. Derrion Reid has been out a lot in the summer and fall so he's a bit rusty, but we were able to get him 24 minutes. We need to get Clifford Omoruyi used to our pace and system a little bit more.
I'm super thankful that Memphis agreed to do this for us. I'm glad we got to come up here to Huntsville – I think the crowd was great, but I wish we would've played a little bit better for them in the second half. I enjoyed the game and I'm glad we got a win, but we definitely have a lot to work on here."
TEAM STATS
- Tonight's matchup marks the Tide's first trip to Huntsville since Dec. 21, 2019, in the Rocket City Classic against the Belmont Bruins (W, 92-72)
- The Crimson Tide led for the entirety of the game
- Alabama finished with six players in double figures, with Sears leading the way with 20, followed by Philon (17), Mouhamed Dioubate (11), Houston Mallette (11), Jarin Stevenson (11) and Omoruyi (10)
- Omoruyi finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds
- For the game, the Tide shot 48 percent (27-56) from the field and connected on 12 three-pointers
- UA dished out 17 assists in total on Monday, with Philon leading the way with seven
- After getting in the bonus with 15:11 remaining in the second half, UA ended the day shooting 62 percent from the foul line (30-48)
- The Crimson Tide's solid three-point defense was pivotal on Monday, with Memphis only shooting seven percent (1-14) from deep
FIRST HALF
- The Crimson Tide was only shooting 35 percent from the field and still held an 18-8 lead with just under 11 minutes to play in the opening frame
- Alabama improved on the offensive end of the floor in the later part of the first half, outscoring Memphis, 19-6, over the final 5:05 of play
- The Tide held the slight advantage on the glass, outrebounding Memphis, 28-23 in the first 20 minutes
- UA cleaned up on the offensive glass, earning 16 second-chance points on eight offensive rebounds
- Mark Sears led all scorers with 13 points at the intermission, connecting on three of four attempts from beyond the arc
- Defensively, the Crimson Tide limited Memphis to 10-36 shooting from the floor (27.8 percent) and 0-7 from range
- The Tide dished out nine assists in the opening frame, with Labaron Philon leading the way with three
- The Tide finished with 49 first half points, surpassing the 40-point mark in both of its preseason exhibitions
SECOND HALF
- Back-to-back threes from Aden Holloway and Houston Mallete brought the UA lead back up to 20, forcing a Memphis timeout just under the 16-minute mark
- After going 7:19 without connecting on a field goal, Jarin Stevenson hit a corner three to increase the UA lead back to 14 with just under eight minutes to play
- Memphis cut the lead to single digits with 1:58 left to play (92-83)
- Alabama shot 50 percent (11-22) from the field in the second half of play
- The Tide's defense picked up five steals in the second half and nine in total
- Alabama's bench outscored Memphis' 18-12
- Both teams shot a combined 62 total free throws in the second half of play
UP NEXT
- Alabama will begin the 2024-25 regular season at Coleman Coliseum on Nov. 4 against UNC Asheville
- The Crimson Tide will tip-off against the Bulldogs at 8 p.m. CT with the contest airing live on ESPNU
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
