TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Defense does job for Tide
Scoring off turnovers has been Arkansas’ formula for success all season, but Alabama dominated that stat in beating the Razorbacks 69-56 on Saturday night.
The Crimson Tide outscored the Razorbacks 25-5 in points off turnovers.
The Razorbacks had scored 452 points off 390 turnovers in their first 25 games coming into their rematch with Alabama.
In Arkansas’ 70-65 victory over the Tide at Fayetteville on Jan. 15, the Razorbacks had just nine turnovers. They had 18 on Saturday night.
“You turn over that many times, that’s just a lot of [lost] possessions,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “That’s goingto be hard [to overcome].
That’s not us.
“That in itself could be the difference in the game, so it’s a tribute to Alabama.”
The Tide forced an opponent into more turnovers than it had been averaging per game - 13.3 in Arkansas’ case - for the 20th time in 26 games this season.
“We’ve been a team all year that’s hung our hat on the defensive end,” Alabama Coach Anthony Grant said.
“It’s fitting when you look at it that we were able to create some opportunities on the defensive end.”
Who’s booing?
At every Alabama home game, the fans pick out an opposing player and boo him every time he touches the ball.
The idea is to get into the head of the other team’s best player, so Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke probably should be flattered he was the fans’ target Saturday night.
The loud booing every time Clarke touched theball didn’t seem to affect him adversely. Clarke led the Razorbacks with 21 points and hit 4 of 10 fieldgoal attempts and 9 of 11 free throws while receiving plenty of defensive attention from Alabama’s guards.
“He’s a great player,” Tide Coach Anthony Grant said.
“He gets one crack and it’s almost automatic.
“We gave him some good looks ... and he made some tough ones, some contested ones as well. You almost come to expect that from him.”
Grant said the Tide had “a great team effort trying to limit” Clarke.
“With that said, he still finished with 21 points,” Grant said. “You’ve got to credit him for what he provides his team.”
Clarke said he didn’t notice the constant booing.
“I tried to stay focused on things happening on the floor,” Clarke said. “I know we’re going to go into hostile environments, so I just tried to focus on our guys and our team, trying to do things to make our team better and to put our teamin position to win.” West champs
Alabama clinched at least a share of its first SEC West title since 2005. The Tide also has the West’s top seed in the SEC Tournament and a first-round bye by virtue of sweeping Mississippi State.
“It’s good for us to clinch it at home in front of our fans, but we can’t look at this like it’s over,” Alabama forward Tony Mitchell said.
“We’ve got to keep going.”Another split
Arkansas, which beat the Tide 70-65 at Fayetteville on Jan. 15, and Alabama split their regular-season series for the 14th time in the 20 years since Arkansas joined the SEC. Each team also has swept the other three times.
Nothing new
Alabama held Arkansas to 39.1 percent shooting from the field. It’s the 18th time this season a Tide opponent has shot less than 40 percent.
Sports, Pages 30 on 02/20/2011