Kentucky Wildcat BasketBall Preview – Know Your Enemy: Alabama Crimson Tide
By Paul Jordan
GAME 18
January 18, 2011 – 9 PM
ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 10-7 (2-1)
Coleman Coliseum – Tuscaloosa, AL
TV – ESPN
SERIES HISTORY
Kentucky leads 102-35
RECENT GAMES
3/12/2010: KENTUCKY 73 Alabama 67 *
2/9/2010: KENTUCKY 66 Alabama 55
1/24/2009: KENTUCKY 61 Alabama 51
2/9/2008: KENTUCKY 62 Alabama 52
3/8/2007: KENTUCKY 79 Alabama 67 *
* indicates SEC Tournament games
Too bad Kentucky can’t play Auburn and LSU every week. Tomorrow night, Kentucky ventures on the road for a stern road test versus the Alabama Crimson Tide. Yes, Kentucky has won five in a row against the Tide and nine of the past eleven, but this is historically a pretty tough win with the average margin of victory just nine points over the last five games. When you move the game to Tuscaloosa, Kentucky is just 28-21 overall, so expect a battle.
Anthony Grant has molded his Alabama team into a tough, gritty defensive team that can give you fits. Alabama is giving up just 49.7 points a game in their ten victories. As a matter of fact, the Tide have allowed 60 points or less in 12 of their 17 games this season. Unfortunately, this team is averaging just 67.5 points a game, which is 220th in the country. Let’s get ready for a defensive brawl in Tuscaloosa and let’s meet the Tide.
THE STARTERS
#12 – G – TREVOR RELEFORD – FR – 6’1 180
9.7 ppg, 3.6 apg, 3.5 rpg
#24 – G – CHARVEZ DAVIS – SR – 6’3 186
9.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.9 apg
#5 – F – TONY MITCHELL – SO – 6’6 210
14.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.6 apg
#1 – F – JaMYCHAL GREEN – JR – 6’8 228
15.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.6 apg
#44 – F – CHRIS HINES – SR – 6’8 227
4.9 ppg, 7 rpg, 1.4 apg
BACK COURT
Freshman Trevor Releford has been thrust into the starting PG position for the Tide this year and he has performed admirably. He can be a tad bit inconsistent as a scorer and is not a huge 3-point threat, but he is very good at getting to the basket and creating his own shots. Releford has scored 17 points in two of his last three games, and is hitting 49.2% of his shots for the season. Releford is quick defensively and is pretty good at passing the ball with a 1.53 A/TO ratio. If Alabama is going to atack the Cats with the 3-pointers, Charvez Davis is going to be the culprit. Charvez is hitting 38.7% of his treys and to be honest is kind of a one dimensional player in that he does not rebound or pas the ball especially well. And Charvez is definitely hit or miss from behind the 3-point line. Looking at his previous six games, Davis has a 16-24 3 game streak from beyond the line and just 2-13 over the past three games. Senario Hillman is an occasional starter for the Tide and brings senior leadership off the bench. He is averaging 8.8 points a game, but his scoring has declined dramatically the second half of the season, with just one double digit scoring game in his past ten outings. Even with his scoring struggles, he is a very solid defender and will provide a good number of hustle plays and steals. Ben Eblen will get some minutes backing up the back court, but at .9 points and 1.1 rebounds, he will not fill up the stat sheet. At 6’5 Charles Hankerson Jr, can play both the guard and forward position. He averages 13.3 minutes, 3.2 points and 1.5 boards a game, but he has been absent form the floor for four of the past five games and just played two minutes in his one game.
FRONT COURT
Tony Mitchell is building off a solid freshman player and has become a very solid front court player for the Tide. Mitchell is a consistent scorer, scoring in double digits in all but one game and is a good defender, as he rankis high on the Bama stat list for blocks and steals. He has three double doubles on the season, and is good at scoring off the offensive rebound. He also shoots 25.8% on 3-pointers, so he may take a few shots from downtown as well. JaMychal Green is blossoming into one of the top front court players in the SEC and is Alabama’s most consistent scorer wiwth at least 14 points in his last nine games. He is also a solid rebounder with three double doubles in that time span. He is a very solid scorer from 15 feet in and is a defenssive presence with 19 blocks in his last six games. About the only downside on Green is that he has fouled out three times in the last nine games. Chris Hines is not going to score a whole lot, but he is a workhorse on the boards and is a solid rebounder with five double digit rebound games. Most of his shots will come from 8-10 feet, but he has bought into Alabama’s defensive scheme and is a solid defender. Like Green, he can rack up the fouls though as he has fouled out once and has four other games with four fouls.
OUTLOOK
As we mentioned previously, Alabama is a scrappy, defensive minded team and Green and Mitchell could give Kentucky some trouble, especially if they can get Terrence Jones or Josh Harrellson into foul trouble. Even if that happens, it should not be a total collapse like in the North Carolina or Georgia game. That’s because the
Kentucky back court is far superior to the Alabama one. And Kentucky has more three point shooters than just the one Alabama has.
It won’t be an easy win, as the Tide will look to control the pace of the game and grind it out. Kentucky should see a lot of zone and also an major attempt to get some cheap fould on Harrellson/Jones. If that happens, the game falls the way the Tide wants it. I think this is another case where Kentucky’s length will help decide the game and Charvez Davis can expect to get to know DeAndre Liggins very, very well. I said ealier that Alabama is averaging 67 points on the season. Well Kentucky has only one game where they have scored 67 points or less and that was the loss to UConn. Kentucky has a tenacious defense as well so I am thinking that 65 points will be the magic number for a UK win. let’s say it’s going to be KENTUCKY 72 Alabama 64.
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