HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Alabama men's basketball team concluded the preseason with a 96-88 win over the Memphis Tigers on Monday night inside Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in the 2024 Rocket City Classic. Proceeds from the contest will support the Huntsville Hospital Foundation and their Caring House Children's Grief Program.
Mark Sears led the Crimson Tide with 20 total points, including three from beyond the arc on five attempts. The senior dished out four assists and picked up three steals by day's end. PJ Haggerty scored 32 points to lead the Memphis offense on Monday.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"There's a reason we play these exhibitions: so we can get exposed a little bit on what we have to work on. We were definitely exposed tonight a little bit. Our turnovers were not where we needed to be, and we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. Our defensive rebounding and our transition defense were exposed in a bad way. They got all over the offensive boards and had 36 fastbreak points. It's not good, so we have a lot of work to do before the regular season starts.
I thought it was good that we were able to get some young guys on the floor. Labaron Philon is a freshman, and he got to play, Aden Holloway is in his first year with our program and got to play decent minutes with some of the other guys being out. Derrion Reid has been out a lot in the summer and fall so he's a bit rusty, but we were able to get him 24 minutes. We need to get Clifford Omoruyi used to our pace and system a little bit more.
I'm super thankful that Memphis agreed to do this for us. I'm glad we got to come up here to Huntsville – I think the crowd was great, but I wish we would've played a little bit better for them in the second half. I enjoyed the game and I'm glad we got a win, but we definitely have a lot to work on here."
TEAM STATS
- Tonight's matchup marks the Tide's first trip to Huntsville since Dec. 21, 2019, in the Rocket City Classic against the Belmont Bruins (W, 92-72)
- The Crimson Tide led for the entirety of the game
- Alabama finished with six players in double figures, with Sears leading the way with 20, followed by Philon (17), Mouhamed Dioubate (11), Houston Mallette (11), Jarin Stevenson (11) and Omoruyi (10)
- Omoruyi finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds
- For the game, the Tide shot 48 percent (27-56) from the field and connected on 12 three-pointers
- UA dished out 17 assists in total on Monday, with Philon leading the way with seven
- After getting in the bonus with 15:11 remaining in the second half, UA ended the day shooting 62 percent from the foul line (30-48)
- The Crimson Tide's solid three-point defense was pivotal on Monday, with Memphis only shooting seven percent (1-14) from deep