South Carolina Defeats Alabama at Last Second 56-54

Alabama’s struggles continued last night vs. South Carolina. The Tide dropped their fourth straight game in conference play by a final score of 56-54. The Crimson Tide is simply playing like a different team. After a close loss to Kentucky on Saturday, things were looking up. Now, it looks like Alabama has hit the lowest point of the season thus far. The loss last night comes to a South Carolina game that was winless in SEC play coming into the game.

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Once again, the story that we have all become accustomed to; Alabama struggled all night on offense. Some things never change, and it seems like the Tide just can’t shoot well. Alabama shot 42.9 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from three-point range. This wasn’t their worst shooting performance of the year, by far, but it cost them the game.

Anthony Grant said before the Kentucky game that JaMychal Green, Tony Mitchell, and Trevor Releford have to play major roles in the offense for Alabama succeed. That wasn’t the story last night. JaMychal Green saw limited action in the second half due to foul trouble and an injury to his ankle. Green was injured after grabbing a rebound and coming down down wrong on the ankle. The injury didn’t look very serious, but was causing the senior forward some obvious pain.

Trevor Releford, who has been on fire as of late, was stone cold. Releford finished with two points, was 1-5 from the field, 0-2 on three-point attempts, and didn’t get to the free throw line. Trevor Releford is a shorter guard, but he makes up for his size with quickness. He is a great dribble drive type player. Many times, he will take on much bigger forwards with ease in the paint, but he didn’t get many chances last night. Releford usually serves as a spark for the Tide, but his offensive performance was sub-par against the Gamecocks.

Finally, Tony Mitchell looked like his old self at times during the game. Tony had a nice dunk off a turnover in transition. He is one of the best dunkers in the game, when he gets a chance. He also had a nice put back on the offensive board in the second half. Mitchell would end the game with 11 points (5-12 shooting).

Levi Randolph once again led the Tide in scoring. Anthony Grant chose to start Nick Jacobs over Randolph, but he would see significant playing time off the bench. Levi finished with 12 points in 28 minutes of play. He was also the only Alabama player to make more than one shot from three point range.

Alabama’s defense has been a stronghold all season, and it didn’t disappoint. South Carolina isn’t a great team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But, when you are able to hold any team under 60 points in a college game, it is an accomplishment.

the defense held South Carolina to 32.4 percent shooting on the night. South Carolina just couldn’t get it done, even in the paint. The Gamecocks would have two or three chances inside the lane and still wouldn’t finish.

Anthony Grant stuck with the zone defense for most of the game and it was the right decision. South Carolina couldn’t find anything in the inside. With South Carolina’s poor shooting performance, it spelled trouble for the Gamecocks offensive attack. Alabama was able to force nine turnovers, many of them resulting in fast break scores.

South Carolina’s offense played just well enough to win the game. They had a horrible night from the field against one of the best defensive teams in the SEC, but the still pulled it out. Malik Cooke gave the Tide some issues all night on defense. He led all scorers with 18 points from his guard position.

Bruce Ellington also played a major role for the Gamecocks. He ended with 12 points, but two of the most important ones of the game. Ellington drove down the lane and made a layup with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift South Carolina to the victory.

In his post-game press conference, Anthony Grant said, winning doesn’t seem to be the priority it should be” and he is right. If Alabama wants to have any chances at the SEC title they will have to turn this slide around quick. The Tide has already lost as many SEC games as they did last year, a year in which they didn’t make the NCAA tournament.

Last night’s win gives South Carolina their first win against Alabama in the last four games. Arkansas will travel to Tuscaloosa to face the Crimson Tide on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum.