TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama men’s basketball coach Anthony Grant emphasized that it was a team win as Alabama defeated South Florida 82-71 Tuesday night.
“Let me make it clear. It was not about any one player. It was a team win,” he said.
The Crimson Tide players echoed his comments. Asked about Alabama’s team balance Ricky Tarrant said, “We play together. We play to our strengths.”
When asked about his team-high 20 points Rodney Cooper said, “It’s just my teammates finding me. It was a great team win.”
Tarrant scored 17 points with eight assists, Levi Randolph 14 points and Justin Coleman 11 for the Crimson Tide. Jimmie Taylor contributed 11 rebounds.
Alabama (5-1) led from start to finish, building up a double-digit lead, 32-22, when Coleman made two free throws at the 7:21 mark. The Crimson Tide extended the advantage to 43-28 on a lay-up by Michael Kessens with 1:15 left.
The Bulls scored the final four points of the half, with a dunk by Ruben Guerrero at the buzzer cutting the lead to 43-32 at intermission.
Cooper had 10 points in the first half for Alabama and Nehemias Morillo had 10 points for South Florida (4-2).
Women
n Alabama 74, South Carolina Upstate 65: At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Senior Briana Hutchen had a career-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to help the women’s basketball team improves to 6-3.
Junior Nikki Hegstetter had a season-high 12 points, while freshman Quanetria Bolton had a season-high eight points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.
USC Upstate (4-4) had four in double figures, led by senior Sharmayne Edwards with 21.
Alabama led by as many as eight in the first half before taking a 40-35 lead at halftime.
USC Upstate cut the deficit to three points two minutes in to the second half. From there, Alabama scored 11 unanswered points in the next five minutes to build a 14-point cushion. The Crimson Tide led by as many as 19.
“It is good to see balance,” Curry said. “I see nearly five kids in double figures, you know, with 12, 21, nine, nine and eight, even nearly six. I liked our balance. It was good to see us spread that, so it was good to see.”
Alabama will play host to Tennessee-Martin at 6 p.m. Thursday at Foster Auditorium.
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