No. 7 Alabama overcomes deficit to nip South Carolina

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Posted 7:04AM on Thursday, February 14, 2002

COLUMBIA, S.C. - How often does this happen? Alabama coach Mark Gottfried saw the worst offensive basketball of his life and left Carolina Coliseum with a smile. ``I don't know that I've ever been prouder of any group of people than I am of our team,'' said Gottfried, whose seven-ranked Crimson Tide rallied from 15-points down to defeat South Carolina 52-51 Wednesday night. Rod Grizzard scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half to power the comeback. Things sure didn't look good, though, when Alabama scored just 15 points by halftime and trailed 37-22 with 14:14 to go. But Grizzard turned the Tide and the game with his play. ``We had a half where we played very poorly offensively,'' Gottfried said. ``At halftime they came out with an unbelievably determined attitude. It's a tremendous win for our team.'' Grizzard said it was like ``one-on-five'' in the first half. ``We'd pass the ball, they would shift the defense and we'd stand around,'' he said. ``The coaches called us on it at halftime and we came out differently.'' Especially Grizzard. He and Erwin Dudley combined for 23 points during a 30-14 run that gave the Tide a 52-51 lead with 4:09 to go. Grizzard had the winning bucket a short turnaround for Alabama's second lead of the game and neither team scored the rest of the way. ``I thought Rod was terrific. He took the game over,'' Gottfried said. ``He played like an SEC player of the year candidate. I think that gave our team confidence.'' South Carolina (14-10, 4-7) had several chances to retake the lead. Chuck Eidson missed an open 15-footer, Rolando Howell walked while backing into the basket and Aaron Lucas hit the rim on a long 3-pointer from the corner with 42 seconds to go. The Gamecocks got one more chance when Grizzard missed a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left, but could not connect. Eidson's pass beneath the basket to Howell was knocked out of bounds by Demetrius Smith with 3.7 seconds left, then Howell's desperation tip after a long miss by Jamel Bradley fell away. Grizzard was 7-of-9 from the field 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the second half. He also got six of his nine rebounds after the break. Eidson looked like he was going to take a 12-foot jumper before he spied Howell streaking toward the basket and the pass was knocked away. South Carolina coach Dave Odom loudly questioned Eidson's decision on the pivotal play. ``You cannot play at this level and beat the seventh place team in the country and not take shots,'' he said. ``You cannot do it.'' Eidson said, ``In hindsight, maybe I should have shot.'' Dudley had 20 points for Alabama, which has won seven of its last eight games. Lucas had 17 points to lead South Carolina, while Bradley - the Gamecocks' leading scorer - was 1-of-8 from the field and was held to two points, 12 below his average. Gottfried couldn't believe what he was seeing in the opening half. ``I don't know that I've been with a group that was that poor in the first half,'' said Gottfried, a former Crimson Tide player. ``It was a debacle of offensive basketball.'' The 15 points were the fewest Alabama had scored before halftime since getting 22 in last year's 60-55 victory over South Carolina. But Dudley and Grizzard became the comeback. Dudley scored the first six points of the surge, then Grizzard had 10 of the next 14 points, including two three-point plays. Grizzard hit two foul shots with 5:29 remaining that gave the Crimson Tide their first lead of the game, 50-49. Howell connected as South Carolina took its last lead, 51-50, before Grizzard, who was saddled with two early fouls, won it for Alabama. ``We're used to seeing Rod do that,'' Dudley said. ``He made the plays when we really needed it.''