Randolph, Tarrant Lead Tide to Third Win of Season

Before he could enter the tunnel, Levi Randolph was met by a single fan who was able to reach him at the railing that separates the locker room from the court behind him.

“Thank you for coming,” he told the young fan, a girl no older than 10 years old looking for a high five.

The girl, too shy to say anything back, could only walk away smiling.

At least on Thursday night, a simple smile was a good way to sum up Alabama’s performance in an 81-67 victory over Southern Miss at Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide (3-0) never trailed in its final game of a three-game home stand at Coleman Coliseum. Alabama takes on No. 14 Iowa State next Monday in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.

“I thought in the first half from an offensive standpoint, we were pretty efficient,” coach Anthony Grant said. “Second half, I thought defensively we were really able to get some stops that led to transition.”

Levi Randolph led the Crimson Tide for the third straight game, pouring in a season-high 23 points. Alabama started the game off shooting 9-for-9 from the floor (3-for-3 from 3-point range) – with Randolph connecting on five of those shots – until a Riley Norris miss at the 10:10 mark in the first half ended the streak.

By that point, Randolph had 15 of his 23 points on the night.

“It’s just trying to be aggressive,” Randolph said. “I know on my first couple of shots, my teammates were able to find me. I was just trying to play off them. Just trying to the things coach asks us to do, play in the flow of the game.”

But if Randolph was to the first half, Ricky Tarrant was to the second. The junior guard, who sat out all of last season after his transfer from Tulane due to NCAA rules, scored 18 points off the bench, 15 coming in the second half.

“They are both good players,” Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler said. “I understand why Anthony is telling me this is probably his best team since he’s been here. I think they have a lot of pieces.”

Randolph and Tarrant each made 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range. As a team, the Crimson Tide shot 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from distance, one game after connecting on only 2-of-17 3-point attempts against Western Carolina on Monday.

“It was a great feeling,” Tarrant said. “But all our guys shoot with confidence, so it’s not a surprise that we made that many threes tonight.”

The Crimson Tide led by as many as 19 points with 2:32 left in the second half after taking a 38-30 lead into the intermission. For the game, Alabama shot 57 percent from the floor (28-of-49), while holding Southern Miss to 41.5 percent (22-of-53).

According to Grant, Alabama’s 3-0 start to the year doesn’t even come close to “scratching the surface” of how good he believes the Crimson Tide can be this season, one year after a disappointing 13-19 campaign.

“It’s way too early to tell,” Grant said. “Obviously, I really like our team. I think we have the potential to be really, really good but obviously a lot of things have to go our favor. I really like our team."