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Alabama first-year forward Darius Miles scored seven of his team’s last eight points in a record-breaking victory over Georgia on Saturday, including a dunk that elicited a memorable reaction from his teammates.
With Alabama in the lead, 110-81, and less than 30 seconds to go, Miles passed the Georgian defense and threw the one-handed slam:
“We know how talented this kid is,” said coach Nate Oats. “We’re just trying to get him to put it all together. I was really happy to see him being able to do that.
The Alabama bench reacted accordingly:
“The reaction from the bench was crazy,” said guard Jaden Shackelford. “It’s good to see someone get what they deserve. This dunk was crazy. Better to be on SportsCenter. “
Miles is a 6-foot-6 former three-star rookie at IMG Academy in Florida who played high school basketball in Washington, DC His playing time this season had mostly been limited to late-game situations. behind more experienced bench players, but injuries helped. Miles goes to see the court at the start of Saturday’s contest.
“We’re all so happy for him because he’s working really hard in training. He pushes us all the time, ”said Josh Primo. “Just seeing him come out and get some quality minutes, we just know what he can do. So when he came up, we all knew what was going to happen. It was just a crazy time for all of us.
Later in the last minute, Miles bounced off a missed Georgia free throw with 15 seconds remaining. Despite a 31-point lead and the shot clock disabled, Miles attempted another dunk. It wasn’t a success, but Miles was fouled and made both free throws to take Alabama to 115 points, the second-highest in school history.
TV cameras showed Oats walking towards Georgia coach Tom Crean, and announcers assumed Oats was apologizing for Miles not to dribble the ball to finish the game.
Oats explained the situation afterwards.
“What I said [Crean] that’s what I told our guys – we had issues with the guys closing games with turnovers, ”Oats said. “So I said to them, ‘Look, once he’s under 30 [seconds remaining] with shooting clock [off] where you didn’t have to shoot, I said, dribble, don’t shoot unless they rush you. If they are in a rush, walk past them and play.
“It’s kind of one of those deals where, if they want to keep playing hard on D trying to get steals, they always play offensively so they don’t return the ball. Either way, we’ve had enough turnovers in the game. So Darius did exactly what I told him to do. They crashed into him at halfway, so he passed.
Oats added that he had “a lot of respect” for Crean and worked in his camps when Crean was Marquette’s head coach.
“I followed him closely to Indiana when I was coaching in high school. He’s a guy from the state of Michigan. I have tremendous respect for the state of Michigan, ”Oats continued. “And he was awesome. I said, ‘Look, Tom, I told them to dribble it unless they press against us. And he just said, “No, no, no problem.
“I wanted him to make sure he knew I wasn’t trying to push the score up. But so have we – you’ve seen us have close games with this team, and it was disastrous. I hate to see us close games like this. Much better to finish the game. “
Crean did not dispute Miles’ aggressiveness.
“I really like Nate,” he says. “I don’t feel like repeating my conversations, but it was fine. I really like Nate. There is nothing sick. There is no problem.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama Beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on twitter @mikerodak.
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