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Alabama basketball: Too much Bamba in B’ham as Texas rolls the Tide

By Ronald Evans

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 09: Avery Johnson the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide gives instructions to his team against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 9, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 09: Avery Johnson the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide gives instructions to his team against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second round of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 9, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Alabama basketball was not ready for primetime Friday night as the Texas Longhorns cruised to a 66-50 victory over the Tide.

In a game expected to showcase a slew of future NBA players only one star shown in Birmingham as the Texas Longhorns defeated Alabama basketball 66-50. That player was Mohamed Bamba. The Texas freshman scored 17 points on just 10 shots while pulling down 11 boards and adding five blocks and a steal.

Bamba was not flawless. He committed one foul and one turnover. Alabama basketball probably has more potential NBA players than Texas but you could not tell it Friday night. No one for the Tide, including the marvelous Collin Sexton, looked ready for the NBA.

John Petty and Daniel Giddens led the Crimson Tide in scoring with 14 and 10 points respectively. The Tide shot a dismal 34 percent and an even worse 20 percent from three-range. Turnovers and rebounds were dead even and the Longhorns only managed one more assist.

The Horns did not exactly scorch the nets, shooting only 44 percent. Texas outscored the Tide 11-5 at the charity stripe and 21-9 from three-point range. The Tide led in steals 8-4 but Texas blocked nine shots to the Tide’s three. Future Tide NBA players, Collin Sexton and Donta Hall combined for 10 points on 15 shots.

Why the Tide lost

For one, Texas had better ball movement and forced few shots. With Sexton and Hall not scoring, Ingram and Key needed to pick up the slack. Combined they scored eight points, 2-for-8 for Ingram and 1-for-8 for Key. A few times too many, Tide defenders did not hustle outside to challenge Texas threes.

Avery Johnson was not pleased with the outcome or the performance. As reported by Bama Online,

"They were mentally tougher, they shared the ball a little bit more, they had consistent energy. We just didn’t have it. I’m very disappointed, disappointed in this loss, disappointed in our body language, lack of ball movement. … We just weren’t very good."

Avery better find a rotation quickly

Eleven Tide players took part in the game. Most of them were ineffective or played poorly. The schedule does not get much easier as the Tide moves into SEC play. Texas is a NCAA team and better than its now 9-3 record that includes overtime losses to Duke and Gonzaga. Up next is Texas A&M and they are better than Texas.

Alabama basketball needs more cohesion and more tenacity. Previous Tide teams with far less talent fought harder. Growing pains with so many young players was inevitable. But 12 games into the season, this Tide team is far short of its considerable potential.

Alabama basketball fans should be patient. Avery Johnson should not. Braxton Key, who was dreadful against Texas, deserves time to adjust to his new teammates. Otherwise, minutes need to be earned rather than shared.

Next: Nick is the '60 Minute Man'

In Birmingham Friday night were 37 NBA scouts and 11 NBA front office executives. Not one Alabama basketball player improved his NBA Draft stock. In closing, we hope Avery has some Nick Saban in him and forcefully challenges his players to improve.

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