Alabama basketball plays exhibitions Wednesday night

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama plays the first of two exhibition basketball games tonight against Montevallo before the Anthony Grant era officially opens on Nov. 14.

The Crimson Tide plays the Falcons at 7:30 p.m., after the women’s team plays North Alabama at 5:30 in its exhibition opener.

“We’ve gone through two scrimmages, so I think it’s about that time where they need to play somebody else,” Grant said Tuesday. “Hopefully, the last couple weeks of practice have gotten us to a point where we’re ready to play somebody else.”

Four returning starters, seven letter winners and four newcomers will all see playing time in the uptempo style Grant brought from Virginia Commonwealth. The coach said he doesn’t have a starting lineup.

“We’re working on finding different rotations and different lineups we can go with at different times,” he said. “But in my mind it really doesn’t matter who the first five are on the floor. We’re still in the process of trying to figure our team out right now.”

Junior Senario Hillman is the team’s top returning scorer (12.9 points per game). Sophomore JaMychal Green was an All-SEC Freshman player last year, averaging 10.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Grant said he feels “a little behind” where he’d like to be with his team.

“But I think that’s probably natural considering that everything is brand new to our players and our staff,” the coach said.

“Obviously, these are exhibitions, but you’d like to see your team play well. We’ve got a couple of more weeks before we actually play a game that’s for real, so hopefully we’ll be able to get where we need to be by then.”

Montevallo went 15-16 last year for coach Danny Young, who is in his seventh season. The Division II school plays in the Peach Belt Conference. Senior guard Freddy Little paced the Falcons with 15.7 points per game last season.

Tonight’s game is the first of two exhibitions for the Tide. On Nov. 10, it welcomes Augusta State to Coleman Coliseum before opening the regular season at home on Nov. 14 against Ivy League champion Cornell.

Before the men’s tipoff, the Alabama women’s team also opens with an exhibition game at 5:30 p.m. today against North Alabama.

“We are all excited to start this new season,” second-year head coach Wendell Hudson said. “The biggest thing we’ll be looking for in this game is consistent effort. We’ve got some great depth now, so we’re eager to see how that will all play out. We’re going to get as many people in the game as we can to really see what we have to work with.”

The Tide women return all five starters and 10 letter winners from last year’s squad that went 13-17.

Tierney Jenkins led Alabama in scoring last season with 11.1 points per game average as a non-starter. Sophomore playmaker Ericka Russell averaged 10.1 ppg and was on the SEC’s All-Freshman team last year.

Admission for the women’s basketball exhibitions is free, but the ticket office will begin charging $5 at halftime due to the doubleheader with men’s basketball.