ATLANTA — JaMychal Green appears recovered from a right shoulder injury, and the University of Alabama men’s basketball team got another big boost with the return of Andrew Steele for the first time this season.
So with the Southeastern Conference schedule beginning in four days, the Crimson Tide look ready to roll.
“I was proud of our guys tonight,” Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. “I thought we came out and played with great energy. It was a very good win for our team in the last non-conference game before we head into SEC play.”
Trevor Releford scored 17 points, Tony Mitchell added 14 and Alabama coasted to a 73-48 victory against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.
Green, a first-team All-SEC forward, finished with nine points and five rebounds in 22 minutes for the Crimson Tide (11-3). Green did not start, but played for the first time since injuring his right shoulder in a Dec. 17 loss to Kansas State.
“As you can see, he had some rust he had to shake off,” Grant said. “But I thought as the game went on, he got more and more comfortable in terms of what he was doing. It was good to have him back out there.”
Alabama, which has won three straight and four of five, opens its SEC schedule Saturday at Georgia. The Tide won the league’s Western Division last year before finishing 2010-11 as an NIT finalist.
“Coach preaches to us that we have to grow up as a team,” Releford said. “Stick together and play hard for 40 minutes. It was a good opportunity to play here before SEC play starts.”
Kammeon Holsey finished with 14 points for Georgia Tech (7-7), which has lost three straight. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 0-2 at Philips Arena, where they will host No. 5 Duke in both schools’ Atlantic Coast Conference opener Saturday.
After Green’s finger-roll gave the Crimson Tide a 40-22 lead to end the first-half scoring, Georgia Tech’s Julian Royal made it 41-31 on a layup with 17:11 remaining.
But less than 5 minutes later, the Crimson Tide led by 22 following two free throws by Steele.
Tuesday marked Steele’s first game since suffering a concussion in last year’s SEC tournament. The junior guard finished with nine points, including a three-point play that made it 60-37 with 10:13 remaining.
“He gave us a big lift defensively,” Grant said. “Obviously, if you look at his productivity from a scoring standpoint, I thought he played extremely well.”
First-year Yellow Jackets coach Brian Gregory did not start Glen Rice Jr., who went scoreless in a 72-66 loss at Fordham last week and was suspended three games to begin the season after breaking a team rule. Rice finished with five points and went 2 of 7 from the field.
Rice wasn’t the only player to struggle. Starting center Daniel Miller, who was averaging 9 points per game before tipoff, went scoreless, missing four shots from the field.
Royal added 10 points for Georgia Tech, which ranks No. 235 in assists-to-turnover ratio and committed 22 turnovers with 12 assists. The Jackets hit just four of 12 free-throw attempts.
With Duke visiting in four days, Gregory knows the Jackets will have to keep their spirits up if the score gets lopsided early or if Georgia Tech gets off to a sluggish start in the ACC.
“That won’t be easy, but at the same time I think everybody knew where we were at, too, you know?” Gregory said. “The thing is it’s going to be a test of the character of the guys because if you’re judging the progress by a win or a loss or whatever the case might be, then it’s going to be tough. We have to keep getting better. We have to fight harder than we fought tonight. We have to play for 40 minutes.”
Mitchell moved right to left along the baseline and took a pass from Releford for a dunk that gave the Crimson Tide a 26-15 lead with 8:39 left in the first half.
Releford followed with a fastbreak layup 4 minutes later to put Alabama up 34-20.
Alabama outscored the Jackets 46-26 in the paint, 29-13 in points off turnovers and 24-10 on fast breaks.
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