On Friday Nov. 16, The Crimson Tide basketball team played in the arena of every basketball player’s dream—Madison Square Garden. Anthony Grant and the Tide faced former two-time Big East Coach of the Year Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats for the 2k Sports Championship at Madison Square Garden.
Early in the first half, it looked as if it was going to be a good game, with solid defensive play from both teams. For Alabama shooting was a natural art, shooting nine of 15 three-point shots (60%). For Alabama’s Trevor Releford, it was easy hitting all five of his three-pointers, scoring 25 points.
The northeastern team from Villanova, Pa. was not used to this shooting domination, holding their previous opponents to only 33% from beyond the three-point line. Villanova Wildcat’s top performances came from JayVaughn Pinkston who scored 17 points, and standout freshman guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who put up 11 for the Wildcats.Villanova was trailing Alabama 26 to 29 at the half, but after the half, the Tide proved we dominate in more than just football.
“I thought we came out tonight for 40 minutes and really did a good job,” Alabama Head Coach Anthony Grant stated about the performance of his players. “Our style of play. defensively, I thought it was a great effort. You look at the numbers from a defensive standpoint, I felt like it was a pretty dominating performance by our guys.”
Two-time Big East coach of the year, Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats said nothing but good things about the Crimson Tide’s performance. “I just thought they were outstanding. Just very disciplined, very well-coached, very physical and solid. Especially offensively, I thought they really, really were intelligent offensively. Just a very, very good team,” Wright said.
Alabama dominated the second half out-scoring Villanova 48-29. The final score was 77-55 and the Crimson Tide claimed the title of the 2k Sports Classic Champions.
Sources:
http://scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/cbk/recap.asp?lg=CBK&g=201211160617&ref=hea&tm=&src
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/men/gameflash/2012/11/16/84112_recap.html
Image Source:
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/photo?slug=39824f1b-9479-3b32-9b56-3ce5d94147f0-l