Brock’s performance remarkable considering the circumstances

March 03, 2009

By Ken Rogers

Anthony Brock still isn’t sure how he did it.

Saturday’s hero against Ole Miss, who scored a career-high 17 points on 5-of-6 3-point shooting, wasn’t even supposed to be at the game, let alone star in it.

Brock’s grandmother died Wednesday night in Little Rock, Ark. The 5-foot-9 junior guard told Philip Pearson on Thursday morning.

“Just by chance we were going to take Thursday off, so we very quickly got it organized for him to take a plane from Birmingham through Atlanta to Little Rock,” interim coach Philip Pearson said. “I told him I did not want to put any pressure on him and felt like Oxford was probably two and half or three hours from Little Rock and if he felt like he was in a position to play, then obviously we’d love to have him. But we were going to leave that up to him.”

They talked again on Thursday after Brock got to Little Rock. Pearson also talked to Brock’s mother.

“I got a little bit nervous because his mother actually had a car accident on Friday and was out of commission from a driving standpoint,” the coach said. “But I think he had a cousin bring him up to Oxford on Saturday morning. He missed the practice on Friday, missed the shootaround, missed the pre-game meal, he just met us at the arena.”

Brock said he wanted to play.

“It was real emotional, just getting up that Saturday and coming back, knowing what I went home for,” Brock said. “I had decided to come back that morning, so my cousin and my brother, we just got on the road and came back. That was it. I just came back to play. I got there about two hours before the game.”

His teammates were glad to see him. But they wanted to make sure he was ready to play.

“My teammates told me, ‘Man, you’ve got to come out and play hard,’ so that’s what I did,” Brock said.
Pearson was uneasy, too.

“I was careful with his play,” the coach said. “I let him sit over there another minute or two, a little bit longer than usual, just to make sure he was settled and had a good feel.

“And then obviously when he got in I didn’t want to take him out, he played so well.”

Brock carried the team in the first half, as Alonzo Gee and Senario Hillman battled foul trouble.

“I ain’t going to say it was easy,” Brock said. “It’s different. I didn’t stop thinking about it. It was just time to play, and I was going to play for her. So it was just a mental thing, getting prepared for it.”

He played 20 minutes as Alabama snapped an 18-game SEC road losing streak.

“Attribute it to him, I know there were some heart-felt conditions for him and tough circumstances,” Pearson said, “He responded great.”