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Crimson Tide Crush Gamecocks On Senior Night

The No. 24 Alabama Crimson Tide picked up a big win against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday evening, 90-71, as the Tide celebrated Senior Night at Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama’s offense could not be stopped, no matter how hard South Carolina tried, scoring an explosive 50 points in the first half alone. The Tide started hot from behind the arc, going 4-4 for 3-pointers, but finished 13-33, adding to its inconsistent woes from deep this season. The Gamecocks opened the second half with a 25-8 run but its issues in the first half were too great to make a major comeback. The Gamecocks cut the lead within six; however, thanks to a hat trick of shots by: Ellis, Bediako, and Shackelford, Alabama ran away with it on a 23-2 run down the stretch to seal the victory. The Tide finished with 48 bench points, 32 points in the paint, and 24 points off turnovers.

"Playing defense, creating easy opportunities for us on offense, and just let the ball flow wherever it may and I think that happened for us tonight," said Alabama guard Keon Ellis.

Alabama’s defense was incredibly impressive, especially in the first half. The Tide came out agressive from the get-go: forcing turnovers, getting in faces, and coming up with steals. Alabama finished with 25 defensive rebounds, and eight steals. South Carolina turned the ball over 19 times and could only pick up eight offensive rebounds.

"Happy we got the win, obviously. Started the second half, wasn't what we wanted, we gotta mature a little bit, play just has hard... After they cut to six, we showed some maturity, came out, got some buckets, opened it back up, which showed a lot about our team," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats.

Not only was it senior night, but also the Alabama basketball program honored the 2001-2002 basketball team during halftime. The 20-year old squad went 27-8, 12-4 in conference play, winning the SEC in the regular season, but losing in the SEC Championship to Miss. State. The No. 8 Crimson Tide received a bid for the NCAA March Madness Tournament, and lost in the second round to No. 10 Kent State.

Alabama hosts Texas A&M on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, for its home finale this season. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. CST, and is aired on SEC Network.

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Tchikou can’t even get in with walkons

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It didn’t look to me like he was even wearing a jersey underneath his T-shirt last night


Adding a (not so great pic) - he’s near the end of the bench (with Alex Reese just over his shoulder :-)

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I'm thinking Tchikou has probably already told the coaches he's hitting the portal after the season but doesn't want to lose access to the school's medical/S&C resources. So they are letting him stay with the team because why not, but they aren't going to play him and risk getting him hurt in the final minutes of a blowout either. Really a shame it hasn't worked out at all. I'm not sure I've ever been more wrong about a recruit. I honestly thought he'd be here two years and off to the NBA as a first rounder.

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I will always be curious what happens if he didn’t rupture his Achilles and is able to develop last year. I think he would have been a solid contributor this year.

Tchikou came out before the game, got into the layup line, and when it was time to get his rebound, he let the ball go and went and put his gum behind the goal somewhere, then started chatting with fans. Never got back in line.

No clue what he's doing.

On the way home from the game yesterday, my dad and I talked about how weird it was for us not have to read bubble watches in February the last two years to know who to pull for and against. We both admitted we still read it out of habit though

Senior Night Reflects Culture Change of Alabama Basketball (SI)

The senior class has helped bring Crimson Tide basketball back to national relevance just three years into the Nate Oats era.

I am a little surprised we did not have more self-outs this year . Maybe it was hangover from Covid.
During Wimps time we would have several sellouts every year whenever we had good teams.

We had sellouts. Those #'s I posted were fans that actually showed up. Auburn/Baylor/Kentucky were all sold out. A few others really close. I'd like to see the tickets sold #'s.

Probably the only shot we have at moving up is win these last 2 games and either win the SECT or at least make the semis