Alabama Basketball: Crimson Tide gets a must-win over Georgia

For Alabama basketball and other bubble teams, February games are must-wins. The Crimson Tide took care of Georgia in a game it could not afford to lose.

Wednesday night, Alabama basketball could not take a loss on its home court against an SEC team with only one conference victory. In pursuit of a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, such a loss would have been a major blow. The Crimson Tide delivered, knocking off the Bulldogs, 89-74.

The Alabama basketball team opened the game with no apparent urgency. The Bulldogs led 15-7, five minutes into the game. The open floor, offensive plan of Georgia coach Tom Crean confounded the Crimson Tide defense. Fortunately for the Tide, Kira Lewis Jr., Tevin Mack, John Petty and Galin Smith tore up the Bulldogs defense. The quartet shot at a scorching clip; 16-for-27 and scoring a combined 35 of the Crimson Tide’s first-half points.

Since neither team got much done defensively in the first half, the Tide’s scoring only afforded it a three-point halftime lead.

Whatever Avery Johnson told his players at halftime, it worked in the second half. The Bulldogs’ open lanes to the basket were harder to navigate. The result was Georgia shot only 34 percent in the second half. Kira Lewis Jr. continued to be too quick and too fast for Georgia defenders. The youngster cooled slightly to 4-for-8 shooting.

Offensively, Tevin Mack was the big second-half story. Mack was practically unstoppable, scoring from inside and outside. Mack was 6-for-9 in the second half. He finished the game with 25 points, six rebounds and two assists. Lewis Jr. scored 24 points with seven assists, four rebounds and only one turnover in 36 minutes of play.

Dazon Ingram pitched in 11 points and Donta Hall added eight rebounds. The Crimson Tide scored 48 second-half points while committing only four turnovers.

The win pushed the Alabama basketball record to 14-8 and 5-4 in SEC play. Georgia dropped to 10-12 and 1-8 in SEC play. Before the game, Joe Lunardi had the Crimson Tide as a No. 11 seed. As one of the ‘last four in’ in Lunardi’s bracket, the Tide would face a play-in game. Wednesday night’s win did not do much to improve the Tide’s NCAA chances.

Next for Alabama basketball is a tough road trip, first to Nashville, followed by a Tuesday night game in Starkville. Vandy is 9-13 and a dreadful 0-9 in the SEC. As always for Alabama basketball in Memorial Gym, history will be on the side of the Commodores.

The Crimson Tide needs a least a split in the pair of road games. What follows is somewhat more friendly with the Tide closing out the regular season with four out of seven games in Tuscaloosa.