Crimson Tide Pull Out Victory Despite Miller Struggles

The Alabama Crimson Tide Men's Basketball team faced off against the University of North Carolina Tarheels in the third place game of the Phil Knight Invitational. The Crimson Tide pulled out a 103-101 victory in a four overtime matchup against the top-ranked Tarheels, but managed to do so without Brandon Miller leading the charge.

Get our free mobile app

Miller entered the contest after putting up an inefficient 18 points in Friday's game against UConn and the struggles seemed to continue for the star freshman forward. Miller finished Sunday's game with tying his season low in scoring, putting up only 14 points shooting 4-21 from the field. Miller shot 2-8 from range and was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.

All of Miller's points for the game came in the second half of play after he failed to put any points on the board in the first half. However, he was able to contribute to the team by picking up seven rebounds throughout the game in the absence of fellow freshman Noah Clowney.

Miller's low scoring total for the afternoon can be attributed to the defense that he faced in the contest where the Tarheels opted to put ACC All-Defensive team forward Leaky Black on Miller for the majority of the game to force the inefficient outing.

The play of Miller was also limited on the defensive end because he got himself into foul trouble early and had picked up his fourth foul just a few minutes into the second half. However, Miller managed to stay disciplined and did not pick up another for the rest of the game, but was not able to generate any turnovers against by way of steals or blocks.

Miller's most effective stretch came in the third overtime period where he added five points to the Crimson Tide total and allowed the team to force another overtime period.

The Crimson Tide will return from their trip out west and host South Dakota State December 3rd where Miller will look to get back on track after the performance.