One of the big stories before the tournament was the loss of Alabama’s second leading scorer Aden Holloway due to a drug arrest. The Lunatic mentioned that he did not know what Karma had planned for the Crimson Tide – it could be a punishment for the team, or it could be simply an opportunity for someone else to be the star.
On Sunday, Karma spoke loud and clear – the opportunity had been created for others. And multiple players on the Crimson Tide took the stage.
The Lunatic had wanted to switch over to the second half after watching the end of the UCLA vs UConn game. And he turned over to a game where the Crimson Tide were beating Texas Tech 49-25 at halftime. Do you realize how hard it is to stay awake to watch a game at 11:30 pm when you are already sleep deprived and you find out the game is a 24 point demolition. So without a box score and a replay I couldn’t tell you much of what happened.
Alabama supposedly lost their biggest threat from three-point range. So against the talented Texas Tech team, Latrell Wrightsell drilled 6 of 9 three pointers to score 24 points and Houston Mallette came off the bench to hit 5 of 7 three pointers for 15 more points on their way to dancing their way to the Sweet 16 with a 90-65 victory.
But here is the most impressive piece. Texas Tech averaged 80.4 points per game, shooting 39.3 percent from three-point range. The Crimson Tide have never really been known for their defense. So imagine the Lunatic’s surprise as the Red Raiders scored over 15 points less than their season average and only hit 4 of their 25 three pointers.
There are not many teams that could lose a starter that averages almost 17 points per game, play against a fellow top 20 team, and not only shoot better from three-point range and play a suffocating defense that would hold their opponents to 15 points less than their season average.
Alabama lost their second best scorer and appear to have become a more complete team that can still score at will but now can also defend. I don’t know if that will be enough to beat the Wolverines on Friday, but to be honest, that is exactly what the Tide want – the Lunatic thought the big, physical team from the Big 12 would be too much to handle and Alabama won by 25. So they certainly want the Lunatic to think Michigan is too strong to repeat that performance. Doubt the capabilities of the Crimson Tide at your own risk – they put together their most complete game of the season on Sunday night – who knows how far this team can go if they can continue to play this well.
Congratulations to Alabama on proving people wrong and continuing to become a better team amongst all the distractions.