Alabama Basketball Focused on Limiting Drew Timme, Gonzaga

Limiting Timme's production was a key factor in the Crimson Tide's 91-82 win over the Bulldogs last season.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When it comes to forwards in college basketball this season, few players have a more widely-recognized name than Drew Timme of No. 15 Gonzaga.

And that's not without reason.

Over his three seasons with the Bulldogs, Timme has only gotten better with time. This season, he's averaging 20.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and has recorded 12 blocks and 10 steals through 11 games played.

This Saturday, Timme and Gonzaga will be in Birmingham, Ala. to take on the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide in the C.M. Newton Classic at Legacy Arena. However, the Crimson Tide is no stranger to Timme, particularly to center Charles Bediako.

Last season, Alabama traveled all the way to play Gonzaga at the Battle in Seattle. While Timme scored 23 points and recorded 10 rebounds in the game, he was still highly limited by Bediako, who gave Timme one of his most difficult games of the season.

Now, a year later, Timme and Bediako are set to face each other once again on the hardwood.

"He's a great player, obviously," Bediako said. "Great footwork. We got a plan to help get an edge on him to win the game. We can't talk too much on that but they're a really overall a well-balanced team."

Last year, the Crimson Tide was able to upset the No. 3 Bulldogs by a final score of 91-82 — just the second loss of the season at the time for Gonzaga. The win was ultimately the biggest of the season for Alabama, who went on to defeat three of the prior year's Final Four teams in Gonzaga, Houston and Baylor.

This year, the recipe to beating the Bulldogs is simple: if you stop Timme, you stop Gonzaga's production.

"We're gonna obviously have to do a great job on Timme," Oats said. "It's not going to be a one-man deal. Charles did a fairly good job at times last year on him, but we did struggle to guard him at times, too.

"He's good and they base a lot of their offense around him, but they got three really good shooters around. They got a really good system."

When looking at the Bulldogs, Timme has scored 226 points on the season. That's 81 points higher than the second-place scorer on Gonzaga, guard Julian Strawther. Timme also has just four rebounds less than Strawther, who leads the team with 91 through 11 games.

Make no mistake: Gonzaga is an excellent team. However, if Bediako and the Crimson Tide can limit Timme's production, then the Bulldogs will be working with essentially one arm tied behind their backs.

See Also:

How to Watch No. 4 Alabama Basketball vs No. 15 Gonzaga

Previewing Alabama vs Gonzaga: Three-and-Out

2022-23 SEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Week 6

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