Alabama a Little Too Much For North Florida, Down Ospreys 73-51

Wednesday, December 2

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

8 p.m.

University of North Florida

1-5

Alabama

5-2

North Florida

Alabama

Freshman Andy Diaz

Alabama a Little Too Much For North Florida, Down Ospreys 73-51

12/2/2009 11:42:09 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Freshman Andy Diaz scores 14 and grabs 4 rebounds

Box Score

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of North Florida men's basketball team lost 73-51 at Alabama on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at Coleman Coliseum.

North Florida is 1-5 on the year and 0-2 in Atlantic Sun Conference play, while Alabama improves to 5-2 on the year.

The Ospreys are now off for 14 days as UNF wraps up final exams next week for the fall semester. The next game for North Florida is at Northwestern on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m. in Evanston, Ill. The Northwestern game is game five of a nine-game road trip for the Ospreys before returning home Dec. 30 to face Palm Beach Atlantic. After Northwestern, UNF will stay up north and take on Marquette on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 3 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisc.

After trailing by a point at halftime, 31-30, Alabama wore down the Ospreys in the second half, outscoring them 43-20 to gradually pull away for the win. North Florida was still in the game at 38-37 with 15:56 remaining before the Crimson Tide went on a 7-0 run for a 45-37 lead. After cutting the lead to six at 45-39 with 13:37 left, Alabama grew the lead to 11 with 11:20 to play and they never looked back.

UNF battled the bigger and more athletic Tide throughout the game, outscoring them 28-26 in the paint. The Crimson Tide out-rebounded the Ospreys 40-30.

Freshman forward Andy Diaz led North Florida with 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks, while senior guard Stan Januska added 13 points. Freshman guard Will Wilson led UNF with six rebounds.

North Florida shot 38 percent for the game (19-50), 29 from 3-point range (4-14) and 75 from the line (9-12). Alabama shot 42 percent from the field (25-60), 45 from 3-point range (9-20) and 78 from the line (14-18).

Alabama's Tony Mitchell led them with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Alabama jumped out to an early 11-4 lead at the 16:07 mark of the first half and stretched its lead to as much as 11 at 19-8 with 10:50 left in the half. The Ospreys went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to four at 19-15 with 5:41 left before the break. After the Crimson Tide grew the lead back to 10 at 25-15 with 4:56 left, UNF responded with a 16-2 run to take a 31-27 lead with 18 seconds left in the half. Alabama banked in a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer for a 31-30 Osprey lead at the half.

Januska led the way with 11 first half points, with sophomore forward Matt Sauey chipping in seven and Diaz six. North Florida shot 44 percent in the first half from the field (11-25) and 40 from 3-point range (4-10). Alabama went 10-31 (32.3) from the field in the first half and 47 from 3-point range (7-15). Mitchell had nine points at the half for Alabama.

“Obviously in the first half we didn't play real well early but we were able to sustain because they weren't playing real well either and that was good for us,” said UNF head coach North Florida Matthew Driscoll. “It was 19-10 and with eight minutes to go I told the guys, 'Look we're in the game, they're letting us in the game and we need to take advantage of this,' and we did. We got a stop, another stop and with consecutive stops we were able to get back in it, get the lead and then of course, the big three at the buzzer. I told the guys at the time out what we're going to do and the one thing we couldn't do is give up a three because that would give them momentum and they were going to get the ball back and that's not good when you're on the road playing here. So that was disappointing in the sense that we weren't able to capitalize on that.”

“The second half I think we were in the game and they wore us down some with their pressure. Their size affected us and they really did a good job playing on post blitzes and they got some easy threes and some easy dunks and layups, and at that time it went from 48-41, then it went to 16. And when you go from seven to 16, we called a couple time-outs but that didn't matter. It got too much and then it went to 20. We still fought and we never quit. Our guys are real resilient about that and understand that but they really made a lot of threes in the first. They made seven threes in the first half and we held them to 32 percent shooting, but if you're making seven threes, you're bang is certainly much bigger. So we've got to do a better job at making sure we guard the arc better. We're not guarding the arc very well. I've got to look at film closely and figure out what the reason is.”

A season ticket for basketball is $120 and includes all men's and women's home games, a total of 28 games on 19 event dates, including nine Atlantic Sun Conference double headers. A special rate is available for UNF Alumni ($110) and UNF Faculty and Staff ($105). A Family 4-pack is also available for the season at $360. Select seating areas require an Osprey Club membership (per seat donation).

Single-game pricing is $10 for adults and $8 for youth 17-and-under and senior citizens 55-and-older. Children 2-and-under and any current UNF student with a valid Osprey1 Card are admitted free. Student guest passes are $5 and limited to one per student.

For more information or to purchase basketball season tickets call 904-620-BIRD (2473) or email ospreytickets@unf.edu.