SEC CHAMPS: Second mission accomplished; Tide sets sights on Iona in Tourney
Scenes from Sunday’s SEC Tournament Championship game with Alabama knocking off LSU, 80-79. (Courtesy Southeastern Conference)
By TIM GAYLE
Iona coach Rick Pitino wasn’t thinking about the NCAA Tournament when he first saw Alabama this season and it never crossed his mind he might see the Crimson Tide up close and personal.
“I actually watched them play five or six times on television,” said Pitino, the former head coach at Kentucky and Louisville. “They were playing Kentucky and I watch a lot of Kentucky games. Watching them play, they have a unique style of play so I tuned in to them three or four more times. They are a unique team. About 40 percent of their shots are driving to the basket for layups; about 40 percent are 3s; 18 percent of the time they’re getting fouled; and about 2 percent of the time they’re taking mid-range shots. They’re very gifted athletically, they’re very well coached and it’s a tough game. But you expect a tough game when you’re (facing) a two seed.”
The Gaels and the Tide will face off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday in Indianapolis. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. local time and will be televised on TBS.
The up-tempo style Gaels, fresh off their win over Fairfield in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament finals in Atlantic City, like the idea of playing the Crimson Tide in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
“My guys have seen Alabama, they have unbelievable respect and they think it’s going to be a fun game,” Pitino said. “Because it’ll be an up-and-down game. They think that’s fun. Their definition of fun may not be the same as mine.”
Pitino’s counterpart, Nate Oats, knows little about the MAAC champions, but is well aware of Pitino’s reputation. He’s never faced the Hall of Famer on the court before, but Alabama fans are well aware of Pitino’s Kentucky squads that went 9-2 against the Crimson Tide in the 1990s, including eight straight wins to close out Pitino’s tenure before he left for the Boston Celtics.
“I don’t know a whole lot about them,” Oats said. “They’re going to be well coached, they’re going to play hard. We’re going to have to come out ready to play. And if we’re fortunate enough to get by them, you either have to play against (Alabama transfer) Galin Smith at Maryland or against Danny Hurley’s group (UConn). They’ve got the kid (James) Bouknight that is probably going to be a (NBA) lottery pick. So we’ve got a tall first couple of games.”
Alabama won its first Southeastern Conference Tournament title since 1991 with an 80-79 win over LSU on Sunday, recording its school-record 18th 80-point game in the process (and improving to 18-0 in those games). Herb Jones scored the game-winning basket with 19 seconds remaining before the Tide held off a Trendon Watford shot and a pair of putback attempts in the final seconds to secure the victory.
Both squads had to be separated before the start of the game and were combative throughout the game before Oats and the Alabama bench erupted in emotion at the final horn.
“I was fired up for our guys,” Oats said. “It’s a pretty heated rivalry, I think you can see Herb was pretty fired up at the end there, too. It was an emotional game. It got a little heated before the game, I wasn’t out there, but it got a little heated. I’m not quite sure what I said (at the end of the game) but I was just more fired up for our guys. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to LSU or anything.”
Oats said Josh Primo, injured in the semifinal win over Tennessee, “is making improvement. I’m hoping he plays this weekend, if not this weekend I would hope if we get to the second weekend, he could play by then for sure.”
Both teams are similar, although Iona has played fewer games due to four interruptions by COVID. Pitino worries about his team’s turnover margin (the Gaels average 15.7 per game) but Alabama averages 14. The veteran coach also frets at Alabama’s penchant for 3-point shots -- Alabama makes 35.1 percent of its 912 attempts -- but the Gaels made 35.5 percent of their 358 attempts.
“The turnovers we’ve had this year are unforced turnovers,” Pitino said. “That’s the dangerous thing about it. We run a lot of Euro League motion offenses where the ball is not in the hands of one or two players. That just takes time to gel, everybody playing together.
“It’s good that we’re not playing until Saturday, we need practice time. The more practice time we get -- because Alabama is bigger, quicker, faster, more experienced, played more games -- the better off we are.”
The two teams met in the Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara, Calif., in 1989 (a 78-39 Alabama victory) but have never crossed paths in the NCAA Tournament. The Gaels are 1-14 in March Madness and that win, an 84-78 victory over Holy Cross in 1980, was later vacated by NCAA sanctions. Since then, the program has lost 13 straight, including games to Duke in 2018 and North Carolina in 2019.
Alabama, likewise, is relatively inexperienced in recent years in the NCAA Tournament. Since losing to eventual national champion UConn in Phoenix in 2004, the Tide has never made it past the first weekend, losing in the opening round in 2005 and 2012 and the second round in 2006 and 2018.
“The best part about March Madness, and I don’t care if you’re a 16 seed or a 1 or 2 seed, is the ability to dream,” Pitino said. “And dreaming’s what it is all about.”
NCAA TOURNEY EAST REGION 1st ROUND
(2) Alabama (24-6) vs (15) Iona (12-5)
Alabama: SEC Regular season/Tournament Champion
Iona: MAAC Tournament champion (9th seed/3rd regular season)
TIME/SITE: Saturday, 3 p.m. - Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
TV: TBS (Announcers - Andrew Catalon/Steve Lappas/AJ Ross)
RADIO: CTSN (Chris Stewart/Brian Passink) - WTLS 106.5 FM
LINE: Alabama -17.5
WINNER faces either Connecticut (15-7)or Maryland (16-13) on Monday