Alabama Basketball Holds Off Iona, 68-55

Herb Jones totaled 20 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in the first-round victory over the Gaels

INDIANAPOLIS — Alex Reese only took two shots but they were arguably the biggest. 

The senior forward nailed two three-pointers that proved to be pivotal in the University of Alabama's 68-55 win over Iona inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament. 

Deadlocked at 42 with just over 10 minutes on the clock, Reese canned a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Crimson Tide a lead it would never relinquish. 

His next triple came in the middle of a 7-0 run with eight minutes remaining to further extend Alabama's advantage to six. 

"We always knew Alex was a great three-point shooter," Alabama senior wing Herb Jones said of his teammate postgame. "His percentage doesn't show it, but we always knew how well he can shoot the ball. We kept telling him to be confident in his shot. It showed up today in a big way."

Along with Reese, the Crimson Tide was fueled by Jones, the Southeastern Conference Player and Defensive Player of the Year, who finished with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. 

"Definitely not one of our better games," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. Got to give Iona a ton of credit. I thought their kids came ready to play. They've got some good players. Obviously, Coach [Rick] Pitino had them well prepared."

As a 15-seed, the Gaels gave the Crimson Tide everything it could handle, and then some. In the first half, Alabama could never pull away from Pitino's scrappy squad, allowing Iona to cut an 8-point deficit to only one during the final minute of play. 

The Crimson Tide shot 20 percent from three-point range (2-of-10) and committed 10 turnovers across the first 20 minutes. 

"We were up eight with under two minutes to go," Oats said. "They went on a 7-0 run. I walked in, just said we got to settle down. Like, it just seemed to me that guys were uptight, guys were not playing like we'd been used to them playing. We had some really dumb, careless turnovers. I didn't want to put any extra added pressure. I felt like they already put way too much pressure on themselves to begin with. With some of our guys that typically play well, that weren't playing well. We just needed to settle down, lock in, control the stuff we can control."

"The effort stuff is stuff we can't control, but I told them we weren't giving our defense a chance to win the game for us when we turn the ball over 10 times. Even at the end there when we gave up the 7-0 run at the half, they hit the three off the turnover. I think we had a couple turnovers. I just told them to settle in, take care of the ball, no more iffy home run plays. We tried to tell them at the beginning of the game. Reiterated it again at halftime. I think we did a much better job there in the second half."

Offensively, Alabama was much more efficient in the second half, scoring at a clip of 54.2 percent from the floor (13-of-24) and 50 percent from beyond-the-arc (3-of-6).  

The Crimson Tide's 16 three-point attempts were a season-low. 

Reese, guard Jahvon Quinerly and forward Juwan Gary combined for 23 points off the bench compared to Iona's eight. 

"The bench was great," Oats added. "Juwan, Reese and Quinerly scored 23 points between the three of them. It was big. Quinerly has been used to scoring at a high level. Quinerly is essentially a starter, but we bring him off the bench. We need to keep him out of foul trouble. He's playing more than 21 minutes for us. 

"I thought the contributions Juwan gave us were huge, as they've been. The two threes that Reese hit were, like, game-opening threes. I couldn't be happier for a kid. I think he's just had a great attitude all year. I thought he was great defensively tonight for us. I couldn't be happier for Reese."

Iona guards Isaiah Ross and Asante Gist poured in 19 and 16 points, respectively. 15 of Ross' points came in the first half, to which he was held to only four in the second. Oats noted that that was the difference in the victory. 

Iona big man Nelly Junior Joesph, the MAAC Freshman of the Year, only poured in six points, to go along with six rebounds.

Overall, the Gaels were held in check from the field, only converting 23-of-59 shots. Iona shot 21.7 percent from three-point range (5-of-23). Alabama also out-rebounded Iona, 42-26.

"I'm proud of our guys," Iona coach Rick Pitino said. "We thought we could beat Alabama, to be honest with you. We had to cut down the three, cut down their transition, keep them away from the basket, and then do a lot of positive things offensively. With the game on the line, we gave up two threes. Because they're used to running back in the lane, and against this basketball team you can't do that. I'm real proud of our guys. We have been offensively challenged all year because we're in our first year where we had to bring in 12 new players. We're going to be better next year because we have more troops coming in offensively to help us.

"But they gave me their heart the entire year, so I'm real proud of them. Unfortunately we didn't have enough weapons to play against Alabama."

On Monday, Alabama will face the No. 10th-seeded Maryland Terrapins, who beat UConn on Saturday 63-54. Tip has been scheduled for 7:45 p.m. (TNT).