Alabama Basketball: Tide wins by 49 over Georgia Bulldogs

With Nick Saban and Miss Terry courtside Saturday night, what Alabama Basketball did to Georgia resembled past football beatdowns. In Coleman Coliseum, it was certainly not joyless. And no Georgia players were carried away for medical attention, but the old description of Crimson Tide murderball comes to mind.

The Bulldogs should have stayed in Athens. After 12 seconds, the game was over, when Mark Sears nailed a three to make the score 3-0. It took less than three-and-a-half minutes for the Tide to build the lead to 12. In less than seven minutes of play, Georgia trailed by 22 points.

At 13:51 in the second half, Alabama Basketball held a 41-point lead. The final was Alabama 108 – Georgia 59.

Georgia fans, fortunate enough to not be in Coleman Coliseum, but watching the beatdown were aghast. Sometimes it can be said a score does not accurately reflect a game. This one did.

Alabama outshot Georgia, 62% to 38%, and outside the arc, 47% to 31%. The Tide outrebounded the Dawgs, 49-26. Assists were 26-8 in favor of the Crimson Tide. Points in the paint also favored Alabama, 44-28.

14 Alabama basketball players competed against Georgia

The most amazing stat of the night is only three Alabama players logged as much as 20 minutes, and two of them were backups. Brandon Miller and Nick Pringle led the Tide in minutes played with 21. Rylan Griffen was in for 20 minutes.

In a recent post, I ranked the SEC’s six new-hire college basketball coaches. I ranked Georgia coach, Mike White No. 2. He has led an impressive turnaround at Georgia. The Bulldogs won six games last season. Under White, they have won 16, including victories over Auburn and Kentucky. Alabama made Georgia look like a team incapable of winning 10 games in a season.

It is hard to imagine what Mike White said to his team after the game. It would be understandable if he said nothing.

Alabama basketball fans can take special note of what Nate Oats said in the post-game, media review.

"This is a better Georgia team than the team we lost to last year."

Nate Oats is correct – and that says much about the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Oats was pleased with how his team bounced back from the Tennessee loss. Another guy who must have been pleased is the Chair of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. On Saturday morning, on behalf of the committee, Chris Reynolds revealed the current top 16 teams for the NCAA Tournament field. Alabama was not just a 1-seed. It was the overall No. 1, 1-seed.

Next up for Alabama Basketball is a Wednesday trip to South Carolina, followed by Arkansas at home on Saturday.