Alabama basketball dialed in the secret to NCAA Tourney success in rout of UF | Goodbread

There should've been plenty of oxygen in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday night for the Alabama basketball team's 97-69 thrashing of Florida, what with the late tipoff (8 p.m.) for a mid-week game making for a few extra empty seats. But you'd have thought the Gators' offense was trying to operate in a sealed bank vault the way it gasped for air. No, not for its literal breath. I mean enough air to pass. To penetrate. To find any open shot it could.

And the Gators couldn't do any of that until the score was too far out of hand for it to matter.

Curious whether the Crimson Tide (21-3), now 11-0 in SEC play for the first time since 1955-56 (gulp!), can make a historic run in the NCAA Tournament? Wednesday night's game put on full display what will be required, and it wasn't a barrage of 3-pointers, even though that was part of the show, as well. It will take tight, relentless, suffocating defense, the likes of which Alabama has shown in almost all of the runaway blowout wins that it's had this season, Florida being the latest.

The hands, they're busy.

The rebounding, it's aggressive.

The help, it's alert.

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The importance of all that is going to be magnified in the NCAA Tournament, where every team turns up its defensive intensity and possessions become more precious. Alabama will have a cold shooting night from 3-point range once in a while − that's inevitable − and only a stellar defensive effort will carry victory in games like that. Alabama's 66-63 home win over Mississippi State on Jan. 25 would be a prime example. Another game like that will come in postseason play. And when it does, the Crimson Tide will need to summon a defensive effort like this one.

We've seen defensive lapses from Alabama at times this season − the entirety of a road loss to Oklahoma a couple weeks ago, for one − but when Alabama dials in a focused, intense defensive effort, it is downright sticky.

Molasses sticky.

And Florida couldn't breathe.

With six minutes left in the first half, the Gators were already out of the game as much because they had only 15 points as Alabama had piled up 40. Crimson Tide guards harassed UF's perimeter shooters well beyond the 3-point line, played on top of screens and scrapped for loose balls. Florida's offense was so out of sorts, at one point Gators guard Myreon Jones missed an uncontested breakaway layup.

And it wasn't just the starters. Early in the second half, UA coach Nate Oats went with five non-starters on the floor for a short stretch, and there was reserve Nick Pringle, adding a vicious block to the defensive effort. Center Charles Bediako notched four rejections. Alabama forced only 10 turnovers, a remarkably low total given all the frustration it caused. Florida shot just 7 for 30 (and 0 for 5 from 3-point range) in the first half, and the Crimson Tide had the game in hand at the break with a 52-23 lead. That the Gators' shooting warmed up some in the second half was of zero consequence, and no risk to the outcome.

This Alabama team, for all its quick-strike scoring and flash, isn't afraid to get its hands dirty on the other end of the floor. That's the mark of something special, even though we're still a month away from the time of year in college basketball when special gets its notary stamp.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball dialed in secret to NCAAT success in rout of UF