The No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide remained hot in SEC play with a 97-69 blowout victory over the Florida Gators. With Wednesday’s win over the Gators, Alabama moves to 11-0 in SEC play and extends their home record to an unblemished 12-0. The 11-0 start in SEC play is just the second time in program history the Crimson Tide has gotten off to such a record.
Alabama started the game off fast in the first half once again, building a commanding 52-23 first-half lead, leaving the game without a doubt before the second half could begin. The Crimson Tide hit 9 of their 17 three-point attempts in the first half while keeping the Gators scoreless from behind the arc. Alabama’s defense was smothering, holding Florida to just 23 points on 23 percent shooting. Florida’s senior forward Colin Castleton was the only Gator to have much success against Alabama in the first half scoring 13 of the Gators’ 23 points of the half.
Once again Alabama showed off their depth with their bench outsourcing Florida’s bench 29-12. The success from the bench is nothing new for Alabama in recent games as their bench is averaging 34 points per game over the last five games. Jahvon Quinerly made his case for SEC Sixth Man of the Year, leading the Crimson Tide’s bench in scoring with 11 points, going three of five from behind the arc.
Brandon Miller once again led the charge for Alabama scoring a team-high 24 points and nine rebounds. Mark Sears stayed hot from behind the arc hitting four of his six three-point attempts and contributing 19 points for the Tide. Alabama would finish the game hitting 15 three-pointers, shooting 44 percent from behind the arc against a Florida defense that came into the game, allowing opposing teams to hit only 29 percent of their three-pointers.
Despite a dominating performance all around from the Crimson Tide, there is a little bit of concern with their defense against talented opposing big men. Florida’s 6’11” big man, Colin Castleton, scored a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the floor. This isn’t the first time Alabama has had trouble with a talented inside presence, but the performance from all other aspects of the game has so far swept this weakness under the rug.
Next up for Alabama is one of the toughest games left on the schedule as they travel to face in-state rival Auburn this Saturday, February 11.
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