Photos From Alabama’s Upset Win Over North Carolina
The No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide took down No. 1 North Carolina 103-101 in four-overtimes in the Phil Knight Invitational Third Place Game. Transfer Mark Sears led the Tide in scoring with 24 points but sophomore Charles Bediako was the star of the contest amassing 14 points and 16 rebounds with three blocks, two assists and two steals.
"I thought our guards did a pretty good job of switching them and playing them pretty tough. I mean Charles was huge. We needed him in. I don't think he'd been playing his best basketball. I kind of challenged him before the game, like 'We need you to step up'. I think he was the best field goal percentage shooter in the country as a freshman last year. He goes 7-of-9 and kind of look at, I mean, Bacot goes 7-of-12, Chuck goes 7-of-9. For as good as Bacot is, I thought Charles kind of neutralized him pretty well tonight," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats.
I can't say enough about the guards too. You look at the defense late, when we kind of put Charles in the pick-and-roll coverage where we were trying to give up contested long twos. Guys just stuck with the plan. Love and Davis hit a decent amount of them throughout the course but I think as the game went on they got more tired and more tired. I mean, shoot, those two combined for 60 field goal attempts. That's a lot a field goal attempts. So, our guards did a pretty good job of continuing to guard them over the course of, what did they play, 58 and 51 minutes. Probably the best backcourt we've seen this year as far as aggressive scoring guards."
The Crimson Tide returns to the court on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.