Men’s Basketball: Alabama Beats Georgia State 75-58

Tuscaloosa, AL – In what was supposed to be a close game against a quality opponent, the Tide turned it into a 75-58 drubbing of the Georgia State Panthers. We started a little slow in the first half due to the Panthers’ zone, but the Tide eventually figured out how to break it and started to separate themselves a little to give them a 38-30 lead at the half. Retin Obasohan’s ridiculous athleticism was on full display in the first half as it was evident in his 3 steals and 2 blocks, including a chase-down, goal tend on an attempted dunk that was worthy of a Sports Center Top 10 play. Releford continued to remain hot from deep as he racked up two 3-pointers in the first half.

Once again, the Tide came out of the half and just dominated the game. The defense allowed just 8 points in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. While the Panthers struggled scoring the Tide jumped out to a quick 15 point lead in the opening minutes of the 2nd half. Alabama continued to dissect the defense until the lead grew to as much as 23 points before Grant decided to slow the game down and melt away the last 10 minutes of the half. The end result was a 75-58 win over a very solid Georgia State team, who is predicted by most to win the Sun-Belt Conference. Trevor Releford led the team in scoring with 19 points to go with his 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Retin Obasohan was the MVP today with the way he impacted the game on several different levels with his energy and driving ability. He finished with 18 points, 4 steals, 3 blocks, and 4 rebounds. Obasohan also gifted the viewers with a surprising fast-break dunk that seemingly came out of nowhere. You can look for the dunk on Sports Center tonight. Levi Randolph also finished in double figures with 10 points.

My Thoughts

Retin is a freak of nature. I know that probably isn’t a great sentence to start this off with, but that was easily the first thought that crossed my mind while watching this game. Whether it was with his quickness on the steals and layups or with his insane vertical on the blocks and dunks, Retin’s athleticism was clearly the story of this game. Releford continues to be our MVP, but this year, unlike last year, he seems to have some help with the scoring. He is simply an unstoppable scorer at the collegiate level, but the one thing he needs to improve on is his distribution. If he can consistently get his teammates involved, he could be a potential 1st round pick despite his height. These last 2 games Carl Engstrom has actually shown that he can be pretty solid offensively with his back to the basket, but his finishing ability on the “gimmes” leaves a lot to be desired. Overall it was another great performance by the Tide, and easily their best defensive game of the year thus far. The Panthers had 2 players in R.J. Hunter and Ryan Harrow that averaged 22 and 20 points per game respectively coming into this game. Hunter was held to 6 points and Harrow was held to 4. It was an absolute clinic on the defensive end for Alabama. Here’s to hoping for a win against Duke next week. Roll Tide!