The Daily Bama Blog

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TUSCALOOSA — Forget the 3-point line. Alabama did it one at a time Saturday afternoon.

Crawling out of its painful four-game losing streak, the Crimson Tide hammered away at Arkansas from the free-throw line. Slipping away with a 72-66 win meant nailing 20 of 25 without defenders, while missing all but two of 15 from the perimeter.

Oh, and toss in a little of that high-pressure defense, and Alabama (14-7, 3-4 SEC) found the slump-busting recipe for its 500th win in an antsy Coleman Coliseum.

Struggling veterans Tony Mitchell and JaMychal Green broke out of their own respective downturns to spark the final surge against the Razorbacks.

The top two offensive threats scored seven straight points late in the second half to give Alabama the lead for good.

Green had 10 of his 14 after halftime, while Trevor Releford had a game-high 18. Mitchell chipped in 11, and Andrew Steele came off the bench to score a career-high 11 and dish out six assists — a season high for any Alabama player.

It came down to aggressive play on the offensive end, Steele said.

“I think we took advantage of the way they wanted to guard us a lot of things,” he said. “I think our will to win was a lot greater than it has been in the past. You can tell in our eyes that we were not going to give up because we needed that one.”

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The Tide fought through most of the second half of its 72-66 win over Arkansas today without its top freshman. Guard Trevor Lacey checked out with 16:26 left and never returned.

He sat at the end of the bench beyond the walk-ons dressed in sweat suits.

“We just felt like there were some other guys who were doing a good job on the court,” coach Anthony Grant said.

The SEC Network television crew reportedly said Lacey was out because of back pain. Asked if that was true, Grant just said “no.”

Lacey finished with two points ― his lowest total since cracking the starting lineup nine games ago.

Nick Jacobs earned the start and scored six points to pace the freshmen.

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Click to enlarge.

Halftime update: Alabama leads 37-30. A few notes:

• Tide outscored Arkansas 20-9 over the last 10 minutes of the half.
• The Hogs made 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range in opening minutes, but went 1-for-5 after that.
• Arkansas made just one field goal in final 8:30. Last make came with just under 5 minutes to play.
• Trevor Releford’s 12 points leads the way. He had 8 in the final 7:15.
• Tony Mitchell had 7 points including an early 3-pointer.

—–

Not a bad crowd in Coleman Coliseum this afternoon for Arkansas at Alabama. It was announced as a sell out, but there are a few clumps of empty seats.

The biggest holes are found in the student section. Follow the game action on Twitter.

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Which Alabama team will come out this afternoon? The late November team ranked in the top 12, or the group on a four-game losing streak?

Click here for the answers and the live Twitter feed of The Daily Bama Blog. We’ll take you beyond the television coverage of the Crimson Tide’s game with Arkansas.

Here are a few facts to keep in mind before tipoff:

Alabama lineup: F JaMychal Green, 6-8, Sr., 13.7 ppg., 6.8 rpg.; G Trevor Lacey, 6-3, Fr., 7.6 ppg., 3.6 rpg.; F Tony Mitchell, 6-6, Jr., 13.2 ppg., 7.3 rpg.; G Trevor Releford, 6-1, So., 12.3 ppg., 3.0 assists; F Nick Jacobs, 6-8, Fr., 5.7 ppg., 3.5 rpg.

Arkansas lineup: G Mardracus Wade, 6-2, So., 10.8 ppg., 2.2 rpg.; G Rickey Scott, 6-3, So., 9.8 ppg., 3.7 rpg.; G Devonta Abron, 6-8, Fr., 5.8 ppg., 4.8 rpg.; G Julysses Nobles, 6-1, Jr., 8.9 ppg., 4.1 rpg.; G Michael Sanchez, 6-8, Sr., 4.2 ppg., 3.3 rpg.

Noteworthy: Arkansas enters Coleman Coliseum with a perfect home record, but hasn’t won a true road game in five tries. Losses came at Houston, then No. 8-Connecticut, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and top-ranked Kentucky. … Arkansas’ leading scorer, BJ Young, comes off the bench scoring 14.6 points a game. … Only six of Alabama’s 20 opponents have scored more than 60 points. … Arkansas leads the SEC in both steals per game (9.1) and turnover margin (+4.8) … Alabama and Arkansas have split the series evenly the last four seasons. Home teams have won each of the last eight meetings. … Alabama seeks its 500^th win in Coleman Coliseum for a second time. Vanderbilt beat the Tide 69-59 in its first attempt.

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Today’s a big day for the Alabama basketball team. Read what I wrote about that in today’s paper right here:

TUSCALOOSA — One by one, the Alabama men’s basketball players worked through the crowd to the target.

A few worked all the way up for a picture with legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt on Thursday evening in Foster Auditorium. It was a good night of a shared laughs and a few cell-phone pictures worth saving.

They’re trying to keep it light while facing its worst losing skid in two seasons. A 12:30 p.m., visit from Arkansas (15-5, 3-2 SEC) presents another crossroads for a team once angling towards the nation’s elite.

The No. 12 ranking of late November is a distant memory after the Wednesday loss to South Carolina, the last-place team in the SEC.

In its aftermath, Alabama coach Anthony Grant told reporters his team played “an entitled brand of basketball.” He explained those comments Friday.

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Click to enlarge.

(Click here for interactive version of photo)

There’s a decent crowd inside Foster Auditorium this evening with national-power Tennessee in town. Quite a bit of orange can be spotted in the crowd too.

And they’re the happy ones. The Lady Vols hold a 16-4 lead after four minutes of basketball.

The support for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt is strong. The all-time wins leader went public with her Alzheimer’s diagnosis over the summer. Even the Alabama students who booed the Tennessee players cheered for Summitt when she was introduced.

Check back later for video.

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Losing South Carolina, previously winless in SEC play, was arguably the low-point in the Alabama basketball season. That was last night.

Today, Alabama announced Saturday’s visit from Arkansas is sold out. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m., in Coleman Coliseum.

Early-arriving fans could take advantage of a free football-related opportunity. The BCS championship trophy will be on display starting at 11 a.m.

Fans can take photos with the crystal football for an hour inside the arena. Only ticketed customers are eligible.

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