Alabama men's basketball hangs on to beat Memphis 91-88
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama men’s basketball team came into Tuesday night’s game against Memphis with a new top-4 ranking. After beating the Tigers 91-88 in a two-half battle, it looks like the Crimson Tide will maintain a win streak heading in Saturday’s showdown against No. 15 Gonzaga.
It wasn’t easy though. Alabama tried to pull away on multiple occasions, but Memphis kept battling back. Penny Hardaway’s squad is a good defensive team, but the Tide still managed to put up 91 with four different players scoring in the double digits.
Freshman phenom Brandon Miller was back to leading the way. After struggling against Houston this past weekend, the former five-star talent scored 24 points on Tuesday night. He also added eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks while proving to be effective on both ends of the court.
Ohio transfer guard Mark Sears had the second-highest scoring output with 18 points. Alabama’s other two starting freshmen, forward Noah Clowney and guard Jaden Bradley, posted 11 points each. Clowney added a team-leading nine rebounds and three blocks while Bradley had four assists.
Alabama got quality efforts from all the new arrivals.
It was needed too, as news came down prior to the game that starter Nimari Burnett would be out indefinitely after having surgery on his wrist. He is expected to return at some point this season, but it’s a big loss for the Crimson Tide. The sophomore guard was averaging 7.9 points and 2.3 assists, but it’s his defensive prowess that sets him apart.
His injury pushed Bradley into the starting lineup, and he fared well.
The IMG Academy (Fla.) product has now scored double-digit points in four of Alabama’s last five games. Ironically enough, those four games came against UConn, North Carolina, Houston and now Memphis. In other words, he’s putting up his best scoring outputs against quality competition.
Alabama will face off against Gonzaga on Saturday at noon CT (1 p.m. ET). The game will be held at Legacy Arena/BJCC in Birmingham (Ala.), and it will air on CBS. Stay tuned for more Crimson Tide men’s basketball coverage from the entire team here at BamaInsider.
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