Rejection Row

Obviously not a lot left to say when you’re a day-and-a-half behind, but I did want to note that Bama got its best win to date without big scoring efforts from Ronald Steele or Jemareo Davidson. That has to be a good sign, right?

It’s hard to say that Davidson had a quiet night with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but he struggled on offense for long stretches with the outcome in doubt. My educated guess is that a whirlwind weekend of a long plane flight the day before back-to-back games, not to mention the physical and emotional toll of the wreck, finally started catching up with him.

Steele is a little harder to figure. He was up against a solid defensive guard in Stanley Burrell, and he did have six assists, but it didn’t seem like he looked for his shot, even with the Muskateers leading in the second half. Five points on 2-for-7 shooting has to be an upset.

The good news is that the bench, or more correctly Mykal Riley, came back to life after going silent against Iowa. Riley had 13 of the 20 points Bama got from its reserves, after a measly 2-point effort against the Hawkeyes. Alonzo Gee also stepped up after a quiet first half, and Richard Hendrix was the most consistent player all night. The more people who step up to be leaders, the better we’ll be in March.

Box score