re: tOfficial Alabama Basketball Thread | Now Accepting Transfers l #BuckleUp

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University of Alabama fans will welcome home their men's basketball team tonight -- although they might not recognize them.

The roster is the same, with the exception of point guard Dazon Ingram, out for the year with an ankle injury. But that injury has head coach Avery Johnson trying to get more out of his remaining players in terms of minutes and production going into tonight's 8 p.m. game against Winthrop.

Alabama brings a four-game winning streak into the game after a 51-50 win over Clemson last Sunday.

"We went there, worked hard, played hard and were fortunate to win by a point," Johnson said. "We worked much harder on the offensive glass where we were sort of at that bottom before that. But we have to keep finding ways to increase our production.

"Our men are not overconfident but they are starting to believe in what we are doing in practice, in how we want to play."

That has been especially important for sophomore point guard Justin Coleman, now in an expanded role with Ingram out for the year.

"(Justin) made some incredible passes for us," Johnson said. "Now we need to get him in a better position to get good shots. He is capable of taking and making shots but we need him to come around. So now we've got another project to work on, but that is a good thing."

The Crimson Tide seniors have filled in as scorers, especially the current SEC Player of the Week, Retin Obasohan.

"Retin getting the SEC Player of the week, that's amazing," Johnson said. "He's starting to figure out how my brain works, offensively and defensively."

Winthrop is 6-2 and while its wins aren't marquee material, the only two losses have come against ACC opponent North Carolina State (87-79) and SEC foe Georgia (74-64).

"They're a very good team," Johnson said. "They're explosive offensively. Their guard, Jimmy Gavin, had 38 points against North Carolina State. Keon Johnson (a 5-foot-7 point guard) has had games of 32 and 27.

"Our defense has been good at times. We had a high grade on defense in the first half against Clemson, but average in second half. We'll have to have another total team effort against Winthrop to have some sort of success."

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Lower bowl?

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