By Chris DePew
TideFans.com Staff
Dec. 9, 2018
Where to watch: Arizona (7-2 – #47 Pomeroy Rating) at Alabama (5-3 – #69) – Today, noon Central, Coleman Coliseum, ESPN
Who to watch: Donta Hall. This surely can’t be how Hall pictured his senior season playing out, with his minutes and scoring down even as he has become more consistent on the boards and at the foul line. Will he break character and start getting in people’s faces to demand accountability and change? Tuesday’s come-from-ahead loss to Georgia State was the fourth game already where Hall had four or fewer shot attempts. Contrast that with how many times he is expected to set a high post screen for yet another isolation play for one of Bama’s guards. That doesn’t even get into how much time he spends moldering on the bench while Galin Smith gets his nightly quota of largely ineffective minutes. Unselfishness is admirable, but the Crimson Tide needs more plays called for No. 0, not fewer, and it may fall on him to ask for them.
What to watch for: A ghost of Christmas past. Never able to make the jump to full-time starter at Alabama, Justin Coleman sat out a transfer season, blossomed into a volume shooter who also racked up assists in one year at Samford, then got a chance to join Arizona as a graduate transfer when the Wildcats lost almost everyone from the 2017-18 squad. And wouldn’t you know he has turned into a solid secondary scorer in the desert, shooting better than 44 percent from 3-point range and averaging almost 12 points a game. Having scored 28 against Gonzaga and 16 versus Auburn this year, Coleman is capable of getting on a big role and he surely would love nothing better than to make Avery Johnson’s bad week worse.
Follow Chris DePew on Twitter @TideFansChris
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