Alabama Basketball disappointed the college basketball world Wednesday night, refusing to lose on the road to South Carolina. Most dismayed were some at ESPN, who along with trying to be experts on a court case not past a preliminary hearing, were clearly primed to blow up a story that Alabama lost a game because of Brandon Miller.
Too much has been said about the case in which Miller is a witness and not a defendant. And much of the ‘too much’ has been filled with misinformation. The Alabama basketball team, no doubt adversely impacted by the drama of the last two days, did what it had to do to win.
Brandon Miller did the most, by far. The Crimson Tide took 62 shots in the game and made just 27. Miller made 14 of the 27, and along with seven made free throws, scored 41 of the Crimson Tide’s 78 points. It was arguably the finest performance of this basketball season.
South Carolina is an effective Three Point Shooting Team. Going into the game Wednesday night, the Gamecocks were shooting 33% from outside the arc. Against Alabama, South Carolina made nine threes. Even though a few were deep threes, their game proficiency was 43%. It was nearly enough to take down a Crimson Tide team that, except for Brandon Miller, was unusually off the mark. The Crimson Tide made seven threes on 27 attempts. Brandon Miller made six of them.
An Alabama Basketball Overtime Win
In the end, it took the Crimson Tide making four layups and a dunk in overtime to escape Columbia with a 78-76 win. The deciding layup of the game was one from Miller.
Speaking about Miller after the game, Nate Oats said,
"He’s one of the most mentally tough kids I’ve ever coached … Not surprised he came ready to play and played well tonight"
Nate Oats opened his post-game remarks by talking about his comments on Tuesday.
"I’m not here to make excuses. I want to make it clear I didn’t have the details from the hearing … I used a poor choice of words that made it appear I wasn’t taking this tragic situation seriously.I sincerely apologize for that."
Going forward, will opposing fans boo Brandon Miller every time he touches the ball in every game? They did it in Columbia on Wednesday night. If future fans do the same, based on how Miller responded against South Carolina, it will be to the detriment of their teams.
For readers thinking more attention should be given to the horrific events of Jan. 15, check out this post from Wednesday morning. New details were released later on Wednesday, but the post provides an overall review and an opinion.