Notables
* Tyree Appleby led the Gators in scoring for the first time, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half.
* Colin Castleton added 13 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
* Tre Mann added 11 points, six rebounds and a team-high six assists.
Quotable
Tre Mann
On Alabama setting the tone…
“Yeah, that was what we talked about at halftime and all the timeouts. We just came out slow. We weren’t paying attention to details that we talked about all week in practice. We knew we had to box out and hit them and rebound and we just didn’t. They took advantage of it, so you know.”
On the offensive breakdown in the second half…
“The same thing it was in the first half. We know college basketball is full of runs. They had a bigger run than we had. We were focused for two minutes – we played hard for two minutes – and then we went right back to where we were in the first half. I mean it was just effort and energy and attention to detail.”
On Scottie Lewis minutes being limited due to foul trouble…
“Yes, it really did. He brings the energy in practice, to games. He’s out there talking and just having him on the bench, it was no good for us.”
Coach White
On the offensive breakdown in the second half…
“Yeah, I thought they played harder than us, Chris. I do. They were really good on the offensive glass, they were better at changing ends – both offensively and defensively – than we were. Thought they were a little tougher than us. Thought (James) Rojas off the bench was really good for them. And then we really struggled to keep Herb Jones and Jaden Shackelford in front of us. They got to the rim at will. We tried to make it interesting there, as you said Chris, early second half and it got away from us. Our transition defense really hurt us.”
On Scottie Lewis’ foul trouble…
“Yeah, he’s a big energy guy for us, but we have to be more disciplined. Fouling, for us, has been our biggest defensive deficiency by far this year. We can’t talk about it anymore than we’re talking about it. We can’t call it any closer in practice. We’re going to continue to do it. Maybe we have to change defenses more, maybe we can get out of press more. We struggled to even set our press tonight. Our energy level from the tip was, uh, I should say their energy level was not matched by us. They got in transition O before we could even set our press. Again, I just thought that they were the aggressor in most facets of the game throughout the night.”
On Alabama’s offensive balance…
“They do a great job with spacing, they really share it. They have a couple guys who can post it. They’re a really good driving team. As a passing team overall, they’re about as good as anyone in our league. Obviously, they shoot the three ball very well. Herb Jones has gotten to where he’s making threes as well which makes him extremely difficult to defend. Especially the fact that he can play one through five. They’ve got a high level of interchangeability.”
