Bama takes some momentum on the road

February 14, 2008

By Ken Rogers

Wednesday night’s Alabama victory over Ole Miss was noteworthy not for what Alabama did, but what it didn’t do.
The Crimson Tide didn’t beat itself. The litany of self-destructive behavior evident in previous close-but-no-cigar losses was missing.
Free throws? Alabama was 24-for-32. It ended the first half making 10 straight foul shots and was 10-for-12 in the final three minutes of the game.
Poor defense? The Tide played intense, aggressive defense and appeared to contest more shots than in any other SEC game they’ve played. Ole Miss shot 36.5 percent from the field. More telling, the Rebels turned it over 16 times. Alabama had 42 rebounds (Ole Miss had 44) against the top-rebounding team in the SEC.
Poor 3-point shooting? Alabama wasn’t great, but its 6-for-22 night was good enough to stay with Ole Miss, which shot 8-for-24 from 3-point range.
In short, Alabama made Mississippi beat them, and the Rebels didn’t play well enough to do it. Ole Miss fell to 0-5 on the road in the SEC.
Alabama is 0-4 on the road and will visit South Carolina desperate to snap that skid on Saturday. Alabama hasn’t won on the road in the SEC since beating LSU in Baton Rouge last season for its lone league road win. The year before that, the Tide was 3-5 on the road in the SEC, winning at Auburn, Kentucky and Ole Miss.
The Crimson Tide has just two more conference home games—Feb. 27 against Arkansas and March 8 against Vanderbilt. It needs to find ways to win on the road in the final weeks.
South Carolina is 3-6 in the SEC and just 1-3 at home. Road trips to Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU are also upcoming. Those are winnable games, if the team plays smart, solid basketball. Wednesday offered some signs of improvement. More will be needed to win on the road.