Miller stars as Alabama reaches SEC semifinals
NASHVILLE — On the court, the University of Alabama men’s basketball team mostly just keeps winning.
As long as the Crimson Tide are playing, though, the questions about off-the-court matters aren’t likely to go away anytime soon.
Brandon Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds, and fourthranked, top-seeded Alabama never trailed while posting a 72-49 victory over ninthseeded Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference quarterfinals Friday at Bridgestone Arena. SEC regularseason champion Alabama, as one of the top four seeds in the 14-team bracket, had a double bye in the tournament and opened its time there by bouncing back from last Saturday’s 67-61 loss at Texas A&M to close the regular season.
The Tide (27-5), who swept their regular-season series with Mississippi State (21-12), set the pace against the Bulldogs by shooting 8-for-20 from 3-point range in the first half. Charles Bediako and Noah Gurley scored 11 points apiece and Jahvon Quinerly added 10 for Alabama, which will play 25th-ranked, fourth-seeded Missouri — a 79-71 winner over 17th-ranked, fifth-seeded Tennessee — in Saturday’s first semifinal at 1 p.m. Eastern.
“I thought our guys did a good job opening the game,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I thought we did a good job closing the half. I think over the final 12 minutes of the first half, they were 3-for-19. We went into the half great.”
Oats had hoped to rest his starters after the first four minutes of the second half, but Tolu Smith — he led Mississippi State with 17 points and a gamehigh 11 rebounds — got hot and changed those plans. After a bad first half for the Bulldogs, it wasn’t nearly enough to prolong their Nashville stay.
They were scoreless in their first six possessions, including a pair of turnovers, and were 8-for-31 from the field before halftime, missing all five of their shots from 3-point range. The Tide led 41-21 at the break, and in finishing the game with just seven turnovers and their season high of 20 assists, they didn’t give Mississippi State much of a chance to rally.
“It was a tough day,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said. “We’re best when we get off to a really good start. Obviously we didn’t.”
Even as Alabama added another victory to an impressive season that will continue in the NCAA tournament, news broke that former player Darius Miles and another man have been indicted by a grand jury on capital murder charges for the Jan. 15 shooting death of a 23-year-old woman near campus. Defense lawyers confirmed the development to AP.
Miles was charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Jamea Harris, defense lawyer Mary Turner told AP. Michael Davis — police investigators said he was the triggerman — was also indicted, defense lawyer John Charles Robbins said.
Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb told AL.com the indictments against Miles and Davis, who have been held without bond since their arrest, were issued Wednesday. Both maintained their innocence through their lawyers.
A police investigator testified last month that Miles, an injured reserve player for the Tide at the time, provided the handgun Davis allegedly used in the shooting.
During a February court hearing, Tuscaloosa Police investigator Brandon Culpepper testified that Miles texted teammate Miller to bring him his gun. Police have said another player, guard Jaden Bradley, also was at the scene.
Neither Miller nor Bradley have been charged with anything.
“This whole situation is just really heartbreaking, but respectfully that’s all I’m going to be able to say on that,” Miller told reporters Wednesday in his first public comments about the case.
In the postgame news conference Friday, Miller — who received his share of boos despite playing in his hometown — was asked his thoughts on the indictment.
“I can’t — I’m not going to be able to say on that,” the player responded.
Coach Nate Oats was asked whether he has a weapons policy for his team and said “our players are required to follow the university policy on guns, which essentially bans them on campus.”
He also was asked who was involved in determining whether Miller and Bradley could continue to play and said the decision was made with athletic director Greg Byrne, school president Stuart Bell and the board of trustees.
“Everybody was comfortable, and based on the information we had, Brandon didn’t break any school policy or team policy, so … I was comfortable with the decision that was made,” Oats said.
Oats was asked Friday whether he has spoken to Harris’ family.
“Listen, this whole situation has been, obviously, as you know, hard to deal with, tragic, to have any involvement in a young woman losing her life. What you ask is a private matter I’m not going to discuss publicly with everybody,” he said. “A lot of this is just hard to deal with, to be honest with you. But it’s a private matter.”