Alabama Basketball Defeats North Florida 76-61

What looked like the another struggle at first turned into a blowout as the Alabama men's basketball team defeated the North Florida Ospreys 76-61 in Coleman Coliseum.  The win gives the Tide their tenth victory of the season as they wrap up the out-of-conference portion of their schedule.  Alabama opens conference play on Tuesday when the Texas A&M Aggies come to Coleman.

The game did not begin the way Alabama wanted, and for a while it looke like the Ospreys would take the Tide down to the wire much like Appalachian State did earlier this season.  North Florida led for most of the first half, and Alabama appeared to struggle with stopping the Ospreys' interior offense.  That changed with about 3 minutes left in the half, when an 11-0 run put Alabama ahead 45-37 at halftime.  The second half was all Alabama, with the Tide leading by as much as 20 points midway through the period.  They outscored the Ospreys 31-24 down the stretch, cruising to an easy victory.

Michael Kessens was the star on the court for the Tide tonight.  The sophomore from Switzerland scored 18 points (16 before halftime) and grabbed 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.  Alabama had four players score in double figures in the game: Kessens, Levi Randolph (13), Rodney Cooper (11) and Riley Norris (10).  The Tide had a season-high 18 assists, including 6 from junior guard Ricky Tarrant.

Alabama's record sits at 10-3 now.  Their wins include UCLA, Arizona State, Southern Miss and South Florida.  While they are far from a lock to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Tide enter SEC play with a lot of momentum.