Paradise by the backboard lights

It wasn’t pretty, but Alabama slogged through a Jemareo Davidson-less 71-62 win over Middle Tennessee in the Paradise Jam opener.

 With Davidson missing the game for his girlfriend’s funeral, the frontcourt depth really got tested. Richard Hendrix (left)  scored 16 points but fouled out, as did Demetrius Jemison. Bama barely outrebounded Middle (31-29) and never really pulled away until the last couple of minutes. If the Tide is going to win this tournament, it needs Jemareo back. He will fly in Saturday ahead of Sunday’s game against Iowa, but how much he’ll play (if at all) is unclear.

There were some less-than-pretty trends.

• Coach Gottfried had talked about wanting to rest Ronald Steele’s achy knee. Instead, Steele had to play 38 minutes and Bama needed all of his 20 points to put away the Raiders.
• Excluding six scoreless minutes by Mikhail Torrence, we only played a 7-man rotation.
• Yamene Coleman started for Davidson and got 5 points and 5 rebounds, but didn’t seem to assert himself, especially in the first half. You get the feeling he’s going to be a work in progress that might not break out until his junior year, or even later.

The fun continues Sunday at 5 p.m. The game is supposed to air on either Fox Sports South or SportsSouth (I’ve seen and heard both mentioned.)

Box score