Anthony Grant’s Alabama basketball team will face Kentucky at home. (AP photo by Dave Martin)
Alabama faces Kentucky on Tuesday night at 8 at home. ESPN will televise the game. Crimson Tide head coach Anthony Grant comments about the matchup:
–On Kentucky: “We are excited to tomorrow’s game against Kentucky. After watching them on film, I am very impressed with their length, athleticism, speed and quickness. The numbers tell the story on what they are doing from an offensive standpoint. They are very efficient offensively. Defensively, they are an extremely diverse team. They are very talented in their ability to create steals, block shots and get in passing lanes. It will be a great challenge for our team. We have to do a great job offensively with our decision making and execution. Defensively we have to do a great job getting back in transition and limiting their opportunities in the open floor situations. We are looking forward to the opportunity.”
–On Kentucky’s guards: “They have five guys who average double figures, so they share the basketball. They are shooting almost 50 percent from the field and are an unselfish team. They have a substantial amount more assists than turnovers, so they do a good job taking care of the basketball. Defensively, they do a very good job of holding opponents to under 40-percent shooting, so they have a very good team overall. For us, it’s about controlling what we can control and that’s all we can worry about.”
–On Kentucky’s program and the hype that surrounds it: “I get excited about every game and every game, to me, that we play is the biggest game on our schedule. That doesn’t take anything away from Kentucky or Texas A&M or any other team we play. As a league, you have the defending national champion in your conference and the success our league has had in the postseason bodes well. We are certainly proud to be a member of the SEC and proud they won the national championship, but at the same time we are competitors. Our mindset is that we are going to go out and prepare the best we can in order to have a chance to win.”
–On Kentucky freshman forward Nerlens Noel comparisons to Anthony Davis defensively: “They are very similar defensive players. I think when you look at the numbers for the season, Noel is getting four blocks per game and about five a game in SEC play. What’s really impressive is his steals – he is averaging almost three steals per game on the season. He has great length, great hands and very good quickness for a guy his size. He does a great job making plays with his hustle and effort. I have been very impressed watching in him on film.”
–On if his team’s lack of size creates mismatches: “We try to take advantage of our personnel. However people want to look at it, whether it’s a strength or a weakness, that’s really up to the individual. We understand who we are as a basketball team and what we have to bring on a daily basis for us to be successful. Our situation hasn’t changed over the course of the year. I think our guys are accustomed to what we do. We have to go out and find ways to be effective with what we have. We have to control what we can control.”
–On Kyle Wiltjer’s steady play coming into Tuesday’s contest: “He is a really skilled player. I think everyone knows about his ability to shoot the basketball, but what is really impressive watching him on film is how good he is passing the ball. He gets his teammates involved. He is playing really well and we will have to do a good job defensively on him. They have other guys out there as well who are really good shooting the ball, so they have some good pieces and we will have to do a good job defensively.”
–On whether it is a different preparation for a team like Kentucky who has a new roster from year-to-year: “The preparation isn’t really different. We are 17 games into the season, so you look at film of the games they have played this year. Our team is different than last year. You just have to get prepared for the game at hand. If we were playing a November game, then it would be more of an issue.”
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