On a four-game winning streak and two weeks away from playing host to a showdown of top teams in the nation, No. 4 Alabama receives a visit from Georgia on Saturday at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Since a surprising 74-64 home loss to Ole Miss on Jan. 14, Alabama has fine-tuned the best offense in Division I by averaging 93.3 points during its four-game streak. That outburst has increased its national-best scoring average to 90.2 points.
The Crimson Tide (18-3, 7-1 SEC) continue to build momentum toward a must-see SEC duel with No. 1 Auburn on Feb. 15.
Alabama has topped the 100-point mark in two of the last four victories and enters Saturday’s game off an 88-84 victory at No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday. Chris Youngblood scored 23 points while making a career-best seven 3-pointers and Mark Sears added 17 points with nine assists.
“I thought a lot of guys made a lot of big plays and (Sears) had a great bounce-back game,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said of his point guard, who went 0 of 5 from the floor and was scoreless in a victory over LSU last Saturday. “A lot of big plays and a huge road win over a really good team.”
Alabama didn’t take the lead for good against Mississippi State until Grant Nelson made a 3-pointer for an 83-80 edge with 2:30 remaining.
“That was quite the game if you like big shot-making,” Oates said.
Sears leads the Crimson Tide with 18.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. Nelson scores 12.7 points while adding a team-best 8.3 rebounds.
Alabama owns five wins over teams ranked among the top 15 and seven victories over Top 25 teams overall.
A win over Georgia (15-6, 3-5) would not add to the Crimson Tide’s total, but the Bulldogs put a four-game losing streak to rest with a 71-60 home victory over South Carolina on Tuesday. Asa Newell scored 17 points with 10 rebounds, while graduate transfer Dakota Leffew added 14 points in his first start for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs shot 51.0 percent from the floor and 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range.
“We made some good decisions, simple plays, pitch ahead, and shot it with confidence,” said Leffew, who was 2 of 4 from 3-point range. “That’s what you’ve got to do in this league. Make or miss. Miss three in a row, shoot it again. If you’ve got an A shot, you can’t worry about whether it’s going to go in or not. SEC shooters just let it fly.”
Georgia was ranked No. 23 when its losing streak began, with three of the losses coming against No. 6 Tennessee, No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Florida. Now comes another test against a team inside the top 10.
“We’ve been here before,” Leffew said. “We’ll be excited about the opportunity to see how well we can play against one of the best teams in the country.”
Alabama has defeated Georgia six of the past seven times the programs have met. The Bulldogs haven’t won a road game in the series since February 2017 and have 99 all-time losses against the Crimson Tide.
–Field Level Media
