Brandon Miller had his way with the Gamecocks during No. 2 Alabama basketball’s 78-76 overtime victory at South Carolina on Wednesday night. It took him a bit longer, but he eventually got the best of the boobirds as well.
In his first game since his name was brought up in a preliminary hearing for the capital murder case stemming from last month’s fatal shooting, Miller was targeted by South Carolina fans every time he touched the ball. However, the heckling did little to derail the freshman as he scored a career-high 41 points to go with eight rebounds while coming up with several clutch buckets on the night.
“He’s one of the most mentally-tough kids I’ve ever coached,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said of Miller following the game. “Not surprised. I mean, 41 points, you don’t want to say you expect that, but not surprised he came ready to play and played well tonight.”
Tuesday, a police investigator testified during a preliminary bond hearing for now-former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles and Michael Davis that Miller brought the gun used to kill Jamea Harris to the scene of a fatal shooting that occurred on the Strip in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 15.
Miles and Davis are facing charges of capital murder for their roles in the shooting. Miller has not been charged with any crime.
During Wednesday’s game, Miller faced chants of “lock him up” from the South Carolina crowd, who booed him throughout the night. The freshman never showed any sign of being rattled, hitting the tying layup with 4.1 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime before providing the game-winner with 0.8 seconds remaining in the extra period.
Miller carried Alabama when it mattered, scoring five of the Crimson Tide’s final eight points in regulation and six of the team’s 10 points in overtime. He finished the game 14 of 25 from the floor, including 6 of 13 from beyond the arc.
"You could tell early on he was trying to be extra aggressive," Oats said. "They were doing a pretty good job of defending him, too. They put all different kinds of matchups on him. They had Meechie Johnson on him. They tried to go small on him. I thought Brandon did a good job of attacking downhill and getting to the rim on that stuff."
Earlier Wednesday, Miller’s attorney, Jim Standridge, released a statement reiterating his client’s innocence. That was followed by a statement from Alabama reaffirming Miller as an “active member” of the team.
"UA Athletics continues to cooperate fully with law enforcement in the on-going investigation of this tragic situation," the statement read. "Based on all the information we have received, Brandon Miller is not considered a suspect in this case, only a cooperative witness. Today’s statement from Brandon’s lawyer adds additional context that the University has considered as part of its review of the facts.”
When asked after the game about his decision to play Miller, Oats said echoed the university’s statement.
“We make decisions based on available facts,” Oats said, “and that's what we did here.”
While Miller posted career-high numbers, Wednesday was an off night for most of Alabama’s roster. Charles Bediako was the only other player in double-figure scoring, recording 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting to go with a team-high nine rebounds. Outside of Miller and Bediako, Alabama shot 9 of 33 from the floor and just 1 of 14 from deep on the night.
“I’m not really a guy who makes too many excuses,” Oats said when asked if circumstances leading up to the game could have served as a distraction to his players. “We’ve got to play better. Some of those other guys didn’t play up to their typical performance. I’m not sure. It obviously could have been a distraction, but Brandon showed up and played pretty well.”
Alabama’s next two games are at home as it hosts Arkansas on Saturday and Auburn on March 1. From there the Crimson Tide will wrap up its regular season on the road against Texas A&M on March 4.
