In ‘character game,’ Alabama basketball finds just enough

With his team's shot at an SEC regular-season title gone thanks to backto-back losses to Tennessee and Florida, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats walked into a news conference Friday and labeled the Crimson Tide's seasonending home contest against Arkansas as “a character game.”

“We haven't lost two games (in a row) in SEC play in a long time,” Oats added. “We have to come out and obviously play a lot better on defense. Our guys have got to give better effort.”

With 30 games already in the books, it was a little late in the year for a 31st to be especially revealing about what's in a team's heart, or what's between its ears. But Oats nevertheless saw Saturday's home finale as a test of both.

Test passed. Barely.

Alabama (21-10, 13-5 SEC) knocked off the Razorbacks 92-88 in overtime, showing just enough mettle to eke out a victory that was needed to clinch a topfour seeding — and the double-bye that goes with it — in next week's SEC Tournament.

Perhaps it was fitting, then, that it was a shot to the gut that knocked guard Latrell Wrightsell out of action near the end of regulation. Bent over in pain at the end of the bench, he retreated briefly to the locker room with UA trainers. But a few minutes later, he returned to the bench, then to the floor, then buried a 3pointer with 22 seconds remaining to force the overtime that was necessary for the victory.

Gut check? Check.

The Crimson Tide never led for even a moment in regulation time, falling behind 10-2 early, then spent the rest of 40 minutes nipping at a deficit until Wrightsell's 3-pointer finally knotted the score 74-74 on its last possession of regulation.

doubles, an RBI and scored once. A twogame stretch of that caliber is impressive in its own right, but to do so in a doubleheader is a testament to Miller's toughness and consistency.

Alabama baseball gets a great start from Greg Farone

After the first game lasted nearly four hours and saw Alabama use six different pitchers, the Crimson Tide needed a long and strong start on the mound in game two. Greg Farone gave them exactly that.

"I thought we did a little bit of uncharacteristic stuff on the mound in game one with some freebies," Vaughn said. "Obviously, we went through quite a few arms, so we needed Greg to give us a good start and get some length in that second one, and he did exactly that."

Farone pitched five innings and allowed just three hits. He added six strikeouts and clinched his second win of the season. The Bisons did not score with Farone on the mound.

"I got ahead a lot with the fastball and was just pounding the zone with it," Farone said. "KG (catcher Kameron Guangorena) did a great job behind the plate, JJ (pitching coach Jason Jackson) called a great game too. I kind of just trusted everything going into the outing and just dominated from there."

Farone has stepped up as a member of Alabama's starting rotation since Riley Quick's season-ending Tommy John surgery. For the season, Farone has pitched 152⁄3 innings with an ERA of 1.72, the best among the Tide's starters. He has struck out 21 of the 58 batters he's faced and allowed just 11 hits, two walks and three earned runs.

What's next for Alabama baseball?

Alabama will face Southern Mississippi on the road on Tuesday, March 12, before returning home to open SEC play with a series against No. 8 Tennessee the weekend of March 15-17.