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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Riley Norris was asked a hypothetical question Monday about how he’d solve Alabama basketball’s inconsistent play this season.
“If you could wave a magic wand and fix two or three things collectively that you see over and over again, what would you like to see fixed?” the reporter questioned.
The fifth-year senior responded without hesitation.
“I think it’s our rebounding because we’re kind of spotty rebounding,” Norris said. “Some games we go out and we’ll outrebound. Like Kentucky we outrebounded, then we go to LSU and we get outrebounded.
“I think if we can be consistent on the rebounding area and also turnovers. Because turnovers lead to fast-break points for them... you can’t guard that when they are scoring three-on-one, three-on-two.”
The reality is it isn’t that simple for an Alabama team that has not won consecutive games since the start of conference play. The Crimson Tide is coming off a disappointing 73-68 loss to Baylor where it allowed 16 offensive rebounds while committing 13 turnovers which led to 24 points.
Alabama has also struggled to close out games. Four of its last five defeats have come by five points or fewer. Over that span, the Crimson Tide fell twice at the buzzer — Georgia State and Texas A&M — and watched a second-half comeback against then-ranked No. 3 Tennessee fall apart in the final minutes. Alabama and Baylor were tied at 61 with 3:34 to play before the Crimson Tide let the Bears pull away with a 6-0 run.
“We just got to keep working at it,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “There’s no magic wand. There’s no pill. We just got to keep working at it in practice, and I think a lot of what happens in practice, it does tend to carry over in the game.”
Dazon Ingram wasn’t questioned about wands or fairytale turnarounds. Instead, the redshirt junior kept things matter-of-fact Monday when addressing Alabama’s recent problems.
“It just all comes from practice,” Ingram said. “Toward the end of practice, I feel like we need to lock in more. Instead of just playing around at the end, I just feel like we should take the end of practice more serious.”
Ingram went on to say the team needs to play with more energy and alertness during the end of games in order to avoid miscues. Alabama uses a GPS tracking system developed by Catapult Sports to track player’s energy levels during games. According to Johnson, the game against Baylor marked the Crimson Tide’s lowest energy level in three years.
That will need to change Tuesday as Alabama (12-7, 3-3 in the SEC) hosts a No. 22 Mississippi State team fresh off of a 92-84 victory over No. 16 Auburn. The Bulldogs (15-4, 3-3) return their entire starting five, including Quinndary Weatherspoon, who is second in the conference averaging 17.3 points per game. The senior guard recorded a combined 46 points and nine rebounds over his past two games against No. 8 Kentucky and No. 16 Auburn.
“I’m expecting us to have a really tough, good practice today,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of respect for our opponent. We have another opponent coming in now that we better respect because they’ll embarrass you.”
Fortunately for Alabama, it has yet to be embarrassed this season. The other end of the inconsistency pendulum has seen the Crimson Tide respond well to adversity. Alabama followed up the buzzer-beater defeats to Georgia State and Texas A&M with impressive victories against Arizona and Missouri. The Crimson Tide’s strongest showing of the season came in a 74-53 win over No. 20 Ole Miss which directly followed the loss to Tennessee.
Alabama is 2-1 against ranked opponents this season and has won its past six games against ranked teams inside of Coleman Coliseum.
“There’s a higher expectation for us to be more consistent,” Johnson said. “We’ve earned the right to be consistent. Yes, if you’re young and somewhat you make excuses, but there are no excuses. We’re a veteran team. We should be more consistent. That’s the mandate. That’s the expectation. Hopefully at some point this season we’ll get it done before it’s too late.
Alabama hosts Mississippi State on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. CT inside of Coleman Coliseum. The game will be televised on SEC Network. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive an Avery Johnson bobblehead.
