Tide Talk Sports

Alabama Softball: Mississippi State Preview

by wyattfulton2001 March 2, 2021

written by wyattfulton2001

The Tide continue to roll! With the girls still undefeated at 14-0 heading into March, this team has picked up exactly where they left off prior to the COVID-19 season shutdown last year. Ranked as high as number 2 in the USA poll, and ranked number 3 in the DI Softball poll, Alabama will face a test against unranked Mississippi State on Wednesday night.

Alabama is coming off a 5-0 run in the Easton Crimson Classic, where they defeated Memphis in the first two matchups 8-3, and 5-1 respectively, with the final three being shutouts against North Carolina twice, and Troy in the finale. Tide pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl also threw her first career no hitter in the second North Carolina matchup. It is just the 37th no hitter in program history. With Kilfoyl’s no hitter last Saturday, this becomes the 10th year with multiple no hitters in a season, and the first since 2018. They have also outscored their opponents 89-20 this season.

Following the midweek game against the Bulldogs, Alabama will head into the Easton T-Town Showdown, where they will play three games over three days. The Tide will take on Kent State Friday at 4 p.m. CT. Then Saturday, they’ll play Northern Iowa at 11 a.m. CT. They’ll end the weekend against South Alabama on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT. All games will be in Tuscaloosa, and the Sunday game against the Jaguars will be televised on SEC Network.

Wyatt Fulton is a Baseball and Softball journalist for Team Tide Talk. Follow him on Twitter @_FultonW. Always feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. Roll Tide

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March 2, 2021 0 comment

Alabama football recruiting

Alabama Football Recruiting: Elite 2023 Texas Defensive End Earns Bama Offer

by Cory Dees March 2, 2021

written by Cory Dees

David (DJ) Hicks Jr. has seen his recruitment explode during the early part of 2021. He’s picked up offers from Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Washington, Texas, and Alabama. This class of 2023 product has produced on the field and in the classroom. According to Hicks’ Twitter profile he currently has a 3.5 GPA. To go along with his great work in the classroom, Hicks Jr. has continued to add good size to an already impressive frame. Hicks looks to dominate opposing offensive linemen this upcoming season and hopefully during camps (assuming most COVID restrictions are lifted) this summer. He stated that his goal was to record 10 sacks this upcoming season, and to become the best player in his class.

Tide Talk Sports was able to conduct an interview with the Katy, Texas standout. He noted that currently Texas A&M and Oklahoma are the two schools recruiting him the hardest. Head coaches Jimbo Fisher and Lincoln Riley have made recruiting the state of Texas a top priority in recent years. Hicks stated on his Twitter post and interview that Alabama coaches Jay Graham and Freddie Roach were the ones to extended an offer to him. Alabama fans may ask what has him intrigued in the school, and the answer was quite simple:

“Alabama is a team that loves to win.”

Education is also an important factor for Hicks, as well as finding the right coaching staff to help him reach the next level.

I would expect his offer sheet to continue to rise. If he continues with his phenomenal study habits and tenacity on the field, the sky is truly the limit for this young man.

Roll Tide

**Stay tuned to http://www.tidetalksports.com for all your Alabama recruiting and athletics news and analysis. Big things are ahead for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and we’ll tell you all about it.

Cory Dees is an Alabama football and recruiting analyst for Team Tide Talk. Follow him on Twitter @DeesTTS. Always feel free to reach out with questions and comments. Roll Tide.

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March 2, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Men's Basketball

Alabama Basketball Sweeps Auburn, Wins 20th Game

by Layne Gerbig March 2, 2021

written by Layne Gerbig

#8 Alabama (20-6, 15-2) has swept Auburn in the regular season for the first time since the 2014-2015 season. It wasn’t always pretty, but in the end the Tide was able to capitalize off of Auburn’s season-high number of turnovers in a 70-58 win over their archrivals.

Auburn (12-14, 6-11) came as close as five points away with 8:05 left in the game. But a 10-0 run with five minutes left allowed Bama to pull away by 15 late. Jaden Shackelford scored 15 second half points, 23 in total, as he easily became Alabama’s leading scorer following a dominating second half. John Petty Jr. finished with 11, Herbert Jones finished with 10. Quinerly came off the bench to score 11.

The Tigers were without Sharife Cooper again due to injury, and short-handed Auburn turned it over a season high 23 times. Alabama capitalized and scored 24 points off of those turnovers.

Alabama, with the win, recorded their 30th 20-win season in program history, and their first since the 2016-2017 season.

Alabama shot 40% from the floor and 28.6% from beyond the arc. In what’s been a slow couple of weeks in the shooting department, the Tide was able to find key shooters to get it done when they needed to and often enough. Bama was outrebounded 46-35 in the win, but it turned out that it didn’t matter. The starters came off the floor with 60 seconds left in the blowout win.

What’s Next?

Alabama will play in Athens, GA in the regular season finale against UGA Saturday at 1:00pm Central.

Layne Gerbig is the lead basketball analyst for Tide Talk Sports. He can be followed on Twitter via @LayneG_TTS.

March 2, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Men's Basketball

Alabama Basketball: Auburn Preview

by Layne Gerbig March 2, 2021

written by Layne Gerbig

Days after clinching the SEC regular season title, the Crimson Tide of Alabama will host Auburn in the Iron Bowl of Basketball part 2.

#8 Alabama (19-6, 14-2) beat Mississippi State 64-59 to secure the regular season title Saturday night.

Jahvon Quinerly provided a much needed spark off the bench, tallying 19 points to keep the Tide up. Jaden Shackelford contributed 15 points to the cause.

“I went in there and they dumped a bunch of water on me,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “They were already celebrating before we got off the floor. They were fired up about it, they knew what was at stake. It’s big. It doesn’t happen very often.”

Despite the win, the Tide has seen continuing struggles from behind the three-point line. Only 7 out of 28 shots found the bottom of the net (25%). Overall, they shot 32.3% from the field. This is a continued struggle for Alabama, as they shot 25.6% from deep against Vanderbilt and 33.3% versus Arkansas in their previous two outings.

But the Tide created numerous second-chance points with 17 offensive rebounds, led by Herbert Jones’ 14 rebounds (six on the offensive end). Quinerly’s 8-of-16 shooting led to his seventh consecutive double-digit scoring game as Alabama’s bench outscored Mississippi State’s reserves 36-5.

“I always preach to him, I don’t think anybody in the country can stay in front of him,” Jones said. “I feel like he believed that tonight, and he created a lot of offense for us. He’s playing with a ton of confidence.”

Auburn won’t be making the final four this year as they did two years ago. To add to their woes, they won’t even be making the tournament at all after a self-imposed postseason ban following investigations into former assistant coach Chuck Person.

But the Tigers came up with one of their best wins of the season on Saturday, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 77-72 victory at home against No. 25 Tennessee. It was Auburn’s second victory of the season against a ranked opponent.

Allen Flanigan scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Tigers bounced back from a blowout loss to Florida. Auburn persevered despite the absence of star freshman and leading scorer Sharife Cooper, who missed his second consecutive game with a left ankle injury.

“Guys stepping up, guys making shots, guys taking on bigger roles without Sharife,” Flanigan said. “Sharife, you know, he’s real great with the ball. He makes plays for others as well as himself. So with him out, we knew we were going to have to step up and try to fill in the gaps.”

Jamal Johnson started at point guard and finished with 14 points and three assists while committing only one turnover. Devan Cambridge tied a season high with 15 points while Jaylin Williams had 13 points and JT Thor scored 10.

pic.twitter.com/KcpCWBPYdZ
— Cameron Luke Ratliff (@fluffopotamus88) March 2, 2021

Almost nobody plays like Alabama. Nate Oats thinks mid-range shots are poison. A modern NBA approach to college hoops. This has produced one of the best Alabama seasons in history—and we’ll probably look up in five years and see copycats across the sport. https://t.co/IqZ8L1HHZf
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 2, 2021

If history is your fancy, please review my Complete History of the Iron Bowl of Basketball that I published prior to the first game in the series.

My Prediction: Alabama 76 Auburn 70

Layne Gerbig is the lead basketball analyst for Tide Talk Sports. He can be followed on Twitter via @LayneG_TTS.

March 2, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Men's Basketball

Alabama Basketball Cuts the Nets, Clinched SEC Regular Season Title.

by Layne Gerbig February 28, 2021

written by Layne Gerbig

It was a beautiful feeling seeing the exact moment the Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball team clinched the SEC regular season title. The first time the truest of Tide faithful have been lucky enough to have experienced that feeling in years. 2002 was a beautiful moment for a young me as well. This moment is unforgettable, and I hope we’re able to savor the feeling as the Tide pushes through the tournaments in March. And its a champion in both football and basketball for the first time in 45 years.

Alabama is in a great spot to make a good push this off-season. What would make this moment even sweeter would be cutting down the nets on Selection Sunday to celebrate a victory in the SEC Tournament.

It wasn’t always pretty, but in this case a win is a win. Mississippi State wanted to play a spoiler as Arkansas did on Wednesday evening. Thankfully their intentions weren’t fruitful Saturday night, losing a close one 64-59 to the SEC regular season champions.

Alabama (19-6, 14-2) led by double digits for much of the game, but the Bulldogs (13-12, 7-9) closed to 56-53 on Iverson Molinar’s layup with 4:17 left. Mississippi State had a chance to draw even closer over the next three minutes, but Alabama came up with a couple of big stops and James Rojas drained a 3 from the right corner to make it 59-53 with 43 seconds left.

D.J. Stewart Jr. made four free throws for MSU in the final minute, but Alabama went 5 for 6 at the line down the stretch, including two successful attempts for John Petty Jr. with 11.9 seconds to go. Alabama held on despite shooting just 32%, including 25% from beyond the arc.

Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points for Alabama, including 15 before halftime that helped the Tide snap out of a cold shooting start. Herbert Jones grabbed 14 rebounds, helping Alabama to a 45-40 advantage on the glass.

Stewart scored 15 points for the Bulldogs, who had won their past two games. Deivon Smith had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Molinar scored 11 points.

‘I went in there and they dumped a bunch of water on me,” second-year Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said of the joyous postgame locker room. ”They were already celebrating before we got off the floor. They were fired up about it, they knew what was at stake. It’s big. It doesn’t happen very often.”

What’s Next:

Alabama will look to sweep Auburn this season as they will host the Eagle-Tigers next Tuesday.

Layne Gerbig is the lead basketball analyst for Tide Talk Sports. He can be followed on Twitter via @LayneG_TTS.

February 28, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Baseball

Alabama Baseball: Wright St. Series Recap

by wyattfulton2001 February 27, 2021

written by wyattfulton2001

Time to bring out the brooms! After posting their first loss of the season earlier in the week, the 22nd ranked Crimson Tide gets back on track this weekend with the sweep at home against Wright State.

After winning Friday’s matchup 8-4, Alabama had a bit of a schedule shakeup with the remaining two games of the series being bumped up to a Saturday doubleheader.

The schedule shakeup didn’t slow them down though. Bama won the early game 8-7, and the evening game 1-0. With a 6-1 record heading into March, Alabama is set to travel to take on UAB on Tuesday. Then back home for Troy on Wednesday, prior to a weekend series at College of Charleston. Great series by Alabama Baseball! Roll Tide

Wyatt Fulton is a Baseball and Softball journalist for Team Tide Talk. Follow him on Twitter @_FultonW. Always feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. Roll Tide

February 27, 2021 0 comment

Alabama football recruiting

Alabama Football Recruiting: Bama lands 5* Quarterback, Ty Simpson.

by Cory Dees February 26, 2021

written by Cory Dees

The University of Alabama secured their signal caller of the 2022 class this afternoon in Ty Simpson of Martin, Tennessee. The five-star signal caller from Westview High School committed to Alabama over the Clemson Tigers and in-state Tennessee Volunteers. Long thought to be a UT lean, Simpson began to consider other schools after the Vols fired former Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt. Jay Graham and Bill O’Brien led the recruitment of Simpson and this shows that once again, Nick Saban, never rebuilds coaching staffs… he just reloads.

Roll Tide

**Stay tuned to http://www.tidetalksports.com for all your Alabama recruiting and athletics news and analysis. Big things are ahead for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and we’ll tell you all about it.

Cory Dees is an Alabama football and recruiting analyst for Team Tide Talk. Follow him on Twitter @DeesTTS. Always feel free to reach out with questions and comments. Roll Tide.

Check out our all-new Alabama Football News and Rumors Channel on YouTube presented by ChatSports. Like, comment, and subscribe!

Comment any questions you may have below and Tide Talk Sports will do our best to answer them

February 26, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Men's Basketball

Alabama Basketball: Let’s Try This Again, Tide Can Clinch With Win Over MSU

by Layne Gerbig February 26, 2021

written by Layne Gerbig

#6 Alabama (18-6, 13-2) didn’t seize the moment on its first opportunity to clinch the SEC Regular Season title. We can talk all day about what went wrong during the game at Arkansas, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. It’s time to hit the reset button and try this again. This time the foe to beat is Mississippi State. Here stands Alabama in a prime opportunity to clinch its first regular season title since 2002. And I believe they can do it.

“Going into Mississippi State, we have got to do a lot better, play harder and come in more focused,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “We can’t get out-toughed like I thought we did (Wednesday).”

The Bulldogs (13-11, 7-8) have won two in a row after a midseason slide. Mississippi State ended Ole Miss’ four-game winning streak on Feb. 20 and routed South Carolina 69-48 on Wednesday.

The Tide defeated the Bulldogs 81-73 on Jan. 23 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

In its past four victories, Mississippi State held its opponents to an average of 54.8 points and a collective 32.9 percent shooting from the floor.

Mississippi State held South Carolina to 29 percent shooting and 19 percent from 3-point range. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Gamecocks 49-24, their largest rebounding margin against an SEC opponent since 2002.

The Bulldogs had 16 assists on 24 baskets after having 15 assists on 25 baskets against Ole Miss.

Alabama will need to buckle down, play tougher than the opponent and keep them away from the free throw line if they want to be successful and clinch the SEC title. They have a great opportunity to do that tomorrow evening.

My Prediction: Alabama 81 MSU 61

Layne Gerbig is the lead basketball analyst for Tide Talk Sports. He can be followed on Twitter via @LayneG_TTS.

February 26, 2021 0 comment

Alabama Men's Basketball

Alabama Basketball: Missed Opportunities Vs. Arkansas

by Layne Gerbig February 24, 2021

written by Layne Gerbig

The game is over, the effects of the loss on me have temporarily subsided, which means it’s a good time for me to break down this game before the effects reemerge. Please be advised before continuing: The sky is not falling. THIS TEAM IS STILL LEGIT. Minor setback, major learning potential. Alabama shot eight free throws Wednesday evening. You read that right, just eight free throws. Would you like to know how many free throws the Arkansas Razorbacks shot? 43. They shot 43 free throws. I’m never one to make excuses, but a 43-8 margin in free throw shooting is an absurd difference. Not to take away from the numerous mistakes and miscues that left the Tide without a prayer late, but officiating seemed to be an issue based on the game that I was watching.

Alabama (18-6, 13-2) would have clinched the regular season SEC title with a win. That was not in the cards tonight, unfortunately.

For a span of 8:53 in the second half, the only shot Alabama sunk was a two-point jumper sunk by John Petty. Arkansas’ 17-point run provided too much frustration. Petty was charged with a technical foul after appearing to argue a no-foul call with 6:55 left. The Razorbacks would build their lead to 16 less than two minutes later, forcing an Alabama timeout. Petty would be ejected after picking up another technical with 1:01 left.

Alabama ran hot and cold the whole game. The Crimson Tide missed their first nine 3-pointers, but would follow by making eight of their next 10, including the first basket of the second half, giving them their first lead since the opening five minutes of the game.

Jordan Bruner led Alabama with 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Petty finished with 12.

The loss snapped Alabama’s winning streak at three games and Arkansas’ win extended its SEC-winning streak to eight.

What’s Next:

Alabama will travel to Starkville to continue their road tour in the penultimate game of the regular season. That matchup will be Saturday, 2/27 at 5:00pm and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Outlook:

Alabama is still a fantastic squad. Things just didn’t go their way this evening. There is no reason to panic if you’re a member of the Crimson Tide faithful like myself. This is a possibly needed setback that will put the team back in a spot that allows them to reassess what’s working and not working. Better to lose now and fix the problems than lose late in March and have no season remaining.

Layne Gerbig is the lead basketball analyst for Tide Talk Sports. He can be followed on Twitter via @LayneG_TTS.

February 24, 2021 0 comment

Alabama football recruiting Uncategorized

Alabama Football Recruiting: Bama remains in the hunt for elite Florida DB.

by Cory Dees February 23, 2021

written by Cory Dees

Alabama has often raided south Florida for elite football talent under Nick Saban. The 2022 recruiting class seems no different, headlined by Earl Little Jr., an absolute playmaker from American Heritage High School. Alabama looks to maintain its strong connections in this area which has yielded recruits such as Jerry Juedy, Amari Cooper, and Calvin Ridley just to name a few. A tenacious DB known for his ball-hawking and cover skills, Little said that he can play in any defense. However, he prefers to play man because he is able to use his hands on the opposing player. Coming from the same high school that has produced several talented players such as: Tyson Campbell and Pat Surtain II, you can rest assured that Little Jr. has been coached to his full potential.

Earl Little Jr. was gracious enough to speak with Tide Talk Sports recruiting analyst, Cory Dees, and he shed some light into his recruitment and the overall process. When asked about his top schools currently, Earl Little replied that “Alabama, Florida, LSU, Miami, and Auburn” currently round out his top 5. He also noted that he plans to take his recruitment until National Signing Day. New Alabama coaches Robert Gillespie and Jay Valai have been keeping constant contact with the Sunshine State star and will continue to be a factor in his recruitment.

Roll Tide

**Stay tuned to http://www.tidetalksports.com for all your Alabama recruiting and athletics news and analysis. Big things are ahead for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and we’ll tell you all about it.

Cory Dees is an Alabama football and recruiting analyst for Team Tide Talk. Follow him on Twitter @DeesTTS. Always feel free to reach out with questions and comments. Roll Tide.

Check out our all-new Alabama Football News and Rumors Channel on YouTube presented by ChatSports. Like, comment, and subscribe!

Comment any questions you may have below and Tide Talk Sports will do our best to answer them

February 23, 2021 0 comment

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