In No. 11 Alabama’s most recent game, Purdue outrebounded the Crimson Tide by 24 on live balls – going a long way toward explaining why the Boilermakers came away with a seven-point win on Alabama’s home court.
“That’s embarrassing,” said Alabama coach Nate Oats. “In life, in sports, the team that plays harder, people that work harder in whatever field you’re in, should win. And they won. They deserved to win. We’re going to have to fix some stuff.”
If not, Oats and the Crimson Tide are at risk of being embarrassed again in their next game.
Alabama (2-1) continues its arduous non-conference slate with Wednesday’s trip to face No. 8 Illinois (4-0) at the United Center in Chicago.
The Illini opened this week second in the nation in rebound margin at plus-21.7 per game. Much of the credit goes to David Mirkovic, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound freshman from Montenegro who racked up 27 points and 21 rebounds on Friday against Colgate.
Mirkovic became just the eighth Big Ten player in the last eight seasons to produce a 20-20 game – joining the likes of NBA big men Zach Edey, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Keegan Murray and Derik Queen.
Four games into his college career, Mirkovic (19.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg) already owns three double-doubles. But Illinois coach Brad Underwood spent the practices leading up to the Colgate game riding Mirkovic because he grabbed just four boards on Nov. 11 against No. 11 Texas Tech.
“I think he had 18 percent go-rate (to the offensive boards) in the Tech game,” Underwood said. “That is never good. Awful… I think he took that personal.”
Underwood compared Mirkovic’s competitiveness level to former Illinois All-American guard Ayo Dosunmu, a second-round pick who has beaten the odds to get to a fifth season with the Chicago Bulls.
“Cheat you, fight you, do whatever to win,” Underwood said. “He’s like that. And those are pretty good traits.”
Sounds like some traits that Oats wishes his players would show more frequently. Certainly Alabama looked worthy when it went to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 8 and took down St. John’s.
“We’ve got issues on the glass,” Oats said. “We knew it in our exhibition games. We knew it in our intrasquad scrimmages. We knew it up at St. John’s. We did a pretty good job. We outrebounded them by one.
“Until we figure out how to make tougher plays, rebound the basketball at a much higher level, we’re going to have a hard time beating the best teams in the country.”
For all the discussion about rebounding, Illinois-Alabama could come down to guard play. The Crimson Tide are loaded with Aden Holloway (21.0 ppg), LaBaron Philon (19.3 ppg, 6.0 apg), Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (11.5 ppg) and Houston Mallette (10.7 ppg).
“I know their backcourt is really, really good,” Underwood said. “Maybe one of the best in the country.”
But Illinois’ crew isn’t too shabby, even though starting point guard Mihailo Petrovic (hamstring) has yet to play. Senior Kylan Boswell averages 18.5 points and 3.8 assists per game while freshman Keaton Wagler, who did not rank among the nation’s top 100 prospects, has started in Petrovic’s stead and averaged 17.5 points while getting to the line 34 times in four games.
“When you stick your nose in there, a lot of good things happen,” Underwood said of Wagler. “He’s fearless and he’s got great, great patience in the paint.”
