By Chris DePew
TideFans.com staff
March 5, 2016
Alabama’s season-long scoring problems didn’t disappear in its regular season finale, as the Crimson Tide faded down the stretch of a 70-63 loss at Georgia.
What did we learn today?: That February’s five-game winning streak was fool’s gold. If Bama wasn’t as bad as a 1-5 start in SEC play indicated, then it wasn’t as good as everyone believed when it started a tear through the league on Groundhog Day, taking down league champion Texas A&M and winning back-to-back road games at Florida and LSU in the process. Now it has lost four out of five games with old demons resurfacing such as poor rebounding (Georgia creamed the Tide 48-26 on the boards), bad foul shooting (10-for-18 on Saturday) and uneven scoring (only two Bama players scored more than six points). This team is very much still in rebuilding mode and the job probably won’t be done by this time next year either.
What were the biggest concerns?: Bama somehow made one less 2-point basket (10 in all) than 3-pointers, and most of the misses were in the paint. Other than Shannon Hale, who went 8-for-12 from the floor, Alabama shot a brutal 31.7 percent from the field. And out of Alabama’s 32 (!) missed shots, it came up with just eight offensive rebounds – and two of those were from 5-foot-11 freshman walk-on guard Lawson Schaffer in the final minute of the game with UGA safely in control. Out of those eight chances, Bama got a piddling three second-chance points. The last thing this paper-thin roster needs is another injury, but Arthur Edwards had to leave early and appeared to be battling not only cramps but a gimpy ankle. The Bulldogs were locked in on stopping Retin Obasohan and the senior guard was held in check until a couple of garbage time treys lifted him to a 15-point finish.
What was the best part of the game?: Bama fell behind by eight points early in the second half and could have wilted on the road, but instead battled back to retake the lead behind Hale’s hot shooting. The Tide wasn’t scoring many baskets, but the ones it made came from running the offense effectively. Alabama had 13 assists, including nine on its first 11 baskets, and only turned the ball over eight times.
Who was the star?: For about an eight-minute stretch, Hale was white-hot, reaching the 20-point barrier about midway through the second half. He finished with 25 points in 25 minutes off the bench and only turned the ball over once. If Alabama is to make an SEC tournament run, he has to keep up the scoring, Obasohan needs to bounce back and at least one other player has to step up and make shots consistently and often.
What’s next?: After finishing in 10th place, Alabama opens SEC tournament play on Thursday at 6 p.m. against seventh-seeded Ole Miss. The second round matchup will be on the SEC Network, with the winner advancing to face Kentucky.
Follow Chris DePew on Twitter @TideFansChris