Alabama too much for Oakland, 74-57

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Simply put, Oakland University is not the same basketball team that reached the NCAA men’s basketball tournament the past two years. Alabama reminded the Golden Grizzlies of that fact Monday night.

With Oakland losing its top two post players, including NBA draftee Keith Benson, and three of its top six scorers to graduation, the Crimson Tide (No. 16) used their inside game to pull away in the second half for a 74-57 non-conference victory at Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama scored 38 of its 74 points in the paint and shot 50.9 percent from the floor (28-for-55) in downing the Grizzlies, who are 2-28 all-time against Top 25 schools since joining Division I in 1998.

“I thought it was an outstanding effort,” said Alabama coach Anthony Grant. “You look at the defensive numbers and they’re really impressive. When you talk about a team like Oakland, they’ve got a lot of weapons in terms of guys that can score the basketball.  They came in obviously shooting the basketball very well and getting about 90 points a game. I thought our guys did a very good job throughout the entire game of keeping the focus on the defensive end.”

Alabama, which held a 39-27 edge on the boards, held Oakland to a 40-percent shooting night (20-for-50) and bottled up the Grizzlies’ top players. The Crimson Tide slowly built a 41-30 lead by the half and outscored Oakland 33-27 in the second half.

Alabama also held OU’s top returning scorer, Reggie Hamilton to 16 first-half points, bottling up the star guard during the final 20 minutes. Drew Valentine added 11 points and six rebounds and Michigan transfer Laval Lucas-Perry chipped in with 10 points.

Travis Bader, Oakland’s top three-point shooter, was held to just 2-for-9 shooting and one triple for nine points.

“They didn’t do too much that surprised us,” said Hamilton. “We prepared for them all month. It wasn’t anything we didn’t prepare for, we just had a bad second half.”

Alabama closed the first half with a 10-4 run and opened the second half with a 10-6 run for a 51-36 advantage, never allowing the Grizzlies to cut the deficit under nine points the whole second half.

JyMychal Green led four Tide in doubles figures with a game-high 18 points. Trevor Releford added 14 points, Tony Mitchell added 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Trevor Lacey twined 10 points.

BOTTLED UP: Oakland University's Reggie Hamilton and the Golden Grizzlies couldn't match up with Alabama in their second opener Monday, falling to the Crimson Tide, 74-57. File Photo

“That’s really good to see the young guys step up and play with the confidence that they played with two games into the season,” praised Grant. “I thought all those guys came out tonight and really impacted the game in a variety of ways, on the defensive end and offensively.  I thought our flow offensively was the best it’s been in the short amount of time we’ve played. I think the guys really understand what we’re trying to do.”

Veteran Oakland coach Greg Kampe expected Alabama to give the youthful Grizzlies fits. Of the nine Oakland players to see the floor, four are newcomers, while another sat out last season with an injury.

“I was very impressed with them, with their length and athleticism,” offered Kampe, whose team again will play several schools from power conferences in the non-league portion of the schedule. “I’d like to play them when it’s not our first game. We don’t usually miss foul shots like that. We made some big errors with about seven minutes to go in the half and it just steamrolled on us.

“I’d like to give you a better answer later on because we are playing some new kids this year,” continued Kampe. “The bottom line is that they are long and athletic and I thought they were tremendous on defense. Offensively, they were a little better than I thought they were going to be. We knew JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell were good but I think those other kids can make some jump shots now. We were going to double off and go down and double on Green, but then we decided to just play those freshmen. I was very impressed with Alabama. I’m a little disappointed in us, but it’s the first game of the year and we played a nationally ranked team. I saw a lot of good things for us.”

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