By Chris DePew
TideFans.com Staff
Dec. 9, 2017
Where to watch: Alabama (7-2) at Arizona (6-3) – Today 9 p.m. Central, McKale Center, ESPN2
Who to watch: Collin Sexton. Something has been off with the “Young Bull” ever since the 40-point game against Minnesota that made him a SportsCenter hero. In three home games since that trip to Brooklyn, he’s only made nine of his 30 field goal attempts and has 10 turnovers against just six assists. The best part of Sexton’s game lately has been the ability to get to the line and sink free throws (toss out his first game against Lipscomb and he’s hitting 77.4 percent from the stripe), but he’ll need much more than that against the Wildcats and in SEC play.
What to watch for: If this week was the start of a rebounding revival. Bama has been a middling team at best on the glass this year but turned that around against undersized Rhode Island, out-rebounding the Rams 50-31 as Donta Hall and Dazon Ingram grabbed 14 boards each. But Arizona has been allowing its opponents just 30 rebounds per game, good for 20th nationally. If the Crimson Tide can’t crash the glass, it can’t generate enough fast break offense or putback score for Hall. And it needs both those things to happen, plus much more, to have a chance against the Wildcats, who seem to have recovered from a disastrous 0-3 trip to the Bahamas and looked much more like the Final Four contenders they were expected to be in a midweek victory against No. 7 Texas A&M.
Follow Chris DePew on Twitter @TideFansChris