Alabama Basketball: Tide needs to get over typical February hump

Alabama Basketball: Two of the Tide’s toughest come next

The LSU Bengal Tigers come to Tuscaloosa Wednesday night having lost three of their last four games. Two of the losses, to the Crimson Tide and Texas Tech did little to damage the LSU resume.

The damage done to LSU from the three losses is far worse than small dips in national rankings. How they lost can only be a tough mental challenge. As every Alabama basketball fan knows, the Tide blew out LSU in Baton Rouge. In the next LSU game, they lost to Kentucky by 13 points.

More harmful to the collective psyche of the LSU team was how it lost to Texas Tech. Playing at home in the SEC – Big 12 Challenge, LSU led by seven points with a minute to play. The Red Raiders scored the final 12 points in the game, winning over LSU by five.

A team’s response to such a collapse can be renewed determination or it can struggle to regain enthusiasm and belief in itself. The expected response from LSU Wednesday night is to be highly motivated to take down the Crimson Tide.  Will Wade spares no cost building his roster. The talent level of Wade’s roster will not be in question. The competitive character of his players will be.

Saturday’s road game against Missouri should offer the Tide’s toughest, remaining, regular-season challenge. At 11-3, Cuonzo Martin’s team has some solid wins. In December, they beat a good Oregon team and a very good Illinois team. After losing to Tennessee at home earlier in the season, the Tigers recently took down the Vols in Knoxville, 73-64.

Martin’s 6-feet-10, senior, big man, Jeremiah Tilmon leads the SEC in field goal shooting at 66.1 percent. He is also the No. 3 rebounder in the conference at 8.1 boards per game. In a physical one-on-one matchup, the Crimson Tide has no player equal to Tilmon.

The Tigers provide another matchup issue. Missouri is the SEC’s best in three-point defense, holding opponents to a 29.5 percent average.

After the four games against the four weaker SEC foes, the Crimson Tide travels to Fayetteville. The Arkansas Razorbacks are 13-5 and will not be as easy to beat as they were earlier in Tuscaloosa. Going back to the 1993-94 season, the Crimson Tide record at Bud Walton is 6-17.

Take away the four-game run, against the SEC’s weakest teams, the Crimson Tide has plenty of challenges before the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. Fans can look ahead, but for Nate Oats and his Alabama basketball team, the only game that matters is LSU.