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No. 6 Gators hold off Alabama, up winning streak to 10 games

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 6 Florida was limping into halftime of a close game when Michael Frazier II nailed a 3-pointer and a foul shot.

Florida Gators

Frazier’s back-to-back 3s later gave the Gators a double-digit cushion midway through the second half of Thursday night’s 68-62 win over Alabama. He finished with 18 points and five 3-pointers, including those timely long-range shots.

“We struggled to get it going in the first half, but they just told me to keep shooting,” Frazier said. “So I did.”

The result was a 10th consecutive win for the Gators (16-2, 5-0 Southeastern Conference), matching last season’s longest streak.

The Crimson Tide (8-10, 2-3) had its league-best 14-game SEC home winning streak snapped.

Florida went 8 of 10 from the free throw line over the final 47 seconds to halt any Alabama threat.

Frazier shot 5 of 13, all from 3-point range. Casey Prather scored 14 points despite just 6-of-16 shooting for the Gators. Scottie Wilbekin had 10 points and four assists.

Frazier’s four-point play with 5 seconds left in the opening half gave the Gators a 33-26 lead. He hit a 3 from the right corner, his third of the half, and was fouled by Shannon Hale. Frazier made the free throw.

Florida struggled shooting at times but did make 10 3-pointers to take advantage of what Alabama’s zone defense left available.

“We got the ball several times into the middle of the floor and we got the ball around the basket and they did a really good job collapsing on (Patric) Young and our guys in the front court,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said. “What was open was from the perimeter, and we made some shots and moved the ball pretty well.”

Trevor Releford led Alabama with 14 points and four assists. Nick Jacobs scored 12, Levi Randolph 11 and Hale 10.

The Tide was without No. 2 scorer Retin Obasohan, who strained his left hip flexor in Tuesday’s practice.

Alabama struggled to get into an offensive rhythm in his absence, allowing the Gators to focus more on Releford defensively.

“If he was out there, he could have definitely helped,” said Releford, who shot 5 of 12 from the floor. “We missed him tonight.”

The Gators earned win No. 100 for the four-man senior class, all starters.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Prather said. “It humbles us knowing that we have so far to go, but we have also come so far since our freshman year.”

They have won the last eight meetings with the Tide and 10 of 11. Florida also had handed Alabama its last home SEC loss on Feb. 14, 2012.

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[MARCHVEGAS] – noun 1. “March to Vegas” symbolizes the humanistic tendency to march, migrate, or advance as a deliberate or organized body in a habitual manner back to Las Vegas. 2. Marriage of March Madness and Las Vegas, especially during tournament time. 3. The “MARCHVEGAS 4-day™ Holiday” (March 20 – 23, 2014) – Sign the Petition.

 
 

Alabama Crimson Tide – Takes care of the Kentucky Wildcats

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alabama-crimson-tide

The tide rolled as BAMA plowed over the Kentucky Wildcats on Wednesday nite in Tuscaloosa. In the first half, the Wildcats had lead by as many as nine points but couldn’t quite pull away and finish the job. With 15:39 left in the second half Alabama was on a 13-3 run to get it to 34-33 and only trailed by one. Eventually the Tide regained their composure which capped off a 59 to 55 victory over the Wildcats.

Nick Jacobs came off the bench and lead all scorers with 14, followed by Trevor Releford with 13 and Levi Randolph added 11. For the Wildcats, Kyle Wiltjer had 14 and Julius Mays with 12. At the 4:26 mark, it was Kentucky 44 and Alabama 47 when Lacey went down hard while going to the hoop falling on his right side. His absence didn’t affect the outcome as the Tide still closed out the win and should make for a good SEC conference W.

However to get better, what Alabama should really be concerned about is their suspect defensive play. They don’t get out and challenge the ball when defending, they don’t put a hand out to deny the pass, and they don’t keep their hands up long enough to create any havoc in the middle of the key or in an offensive players face. They are more or less just totally reactive to what the offense player wants to do which may be why with two seven footers they still get out rebounded 31 to 40.

I’m sure Coach Grant has pounded this into their heads on the defensive end but they’ll learn to advance later on and to beat better teams, they’ll have to improve. Otherwise, they’re probably only good for one tournament win come March. It doesn’t have to be that way, they have guys who can create shots and can feed the two seven footers down low for high percentage shots but unless they can get more aggressive on defense I see them having an early exit when March Madness begins. For Kentucky fans, you ought to be a bit worried as well.

p.s. I know the word “nite” is misspelled incorrectly above and really should be “night”, I just prefer it my way. All other errors in grammar are just part of the territory.

PLAYER ROSTER/STATS AREA

# Player Pos Ht Wt Class PPG RPG APG TO BLK
21 Rodney Cooper G 6’6′ 215 So. 6 6 1 0 0
14 Moussa Gueye C 7’0′ 255 Jr. 4 5 0 0 5
15 Nick Jacobs F 6’8′ 265 So. 14 5 0 0 1
5 Trevor Lacey G 6’3′ 215 So. 7 4 4 2 0
20 Levi Randolph G 6’5′ 205 So. 11 4 2 1 2
12 Trevor Releford G 6’0′ 195 Jr. 13 3 2 3 0
22 Andrew Steele G 6’4′ 225 Sr. 4 2 0 0 0
24 Devonta Pollard F 6’8′ 200 Fr. 0 2 0 0 1
32 Retin Obasohan G 6’1′ 210 Fr. 0 0 0 0 0
4 Carl Engstrom C 7’1′ 285 Jr. 0 0 0 0 0

TEAM SCHEDULE AREA

Date Opponent
Jan. 26 at Tennessee
Jan. 31 Arkansas
Feb. 2 at Vanderbilt
Feb. 6 at Auburn
Feb. 9 LSU
Feb. 12 at Georgia
Feb. 16 South Carolina
Feb. 20 Mississippi State
Feb. 23 at LSU
Feb. 26 Auburn
Mar. 2 at Florida
Mar. 5 at Ole Miss
Mar. 9 Georgia
vegas-imageMARCHVEGAS 2013
To catch the Alabama Crimson Tide for March Madness, why not take a break, “March to Vegas” and see all the excitement at once for the first round of the tournament? Watch hoops and gamble by day, play and party by night for 4 blissful days; it’ll feel just like a 4-day™ holiday.

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By Roy George
 

[MARCHVEGAS] – noun 1. “March to Vegas” symbolizes the humanistic tendency to march, migrate, or advance as a deliberate or organized body in a habitual manner back to Las Vegas. 2. Marriage of March Madness and Las Vegas, especially during tournament time. 3. The “MARCHVEGAS 4-day™ Holiday” (March 21 – 24, 2013) – Sign the Petition.

 
 

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