John Petty Jr. Sets 3-point Record as Alabama Annihilates Arkansas

The Crimson Tide defeated the Razorbacks 90-59 and is now 6-0 in SEC play

Joey Blackwell | Jan 16, 2021

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball kept its winning streak alive on Saturday afternoon at Coleman Coliseum, beating Arkansas 90-59 and increasing its unbeaten SEC streak to six-consecutive games.

The win combined with Tuesday night's victory over Kentucky is the first time that the Crimson Tide has won back-to-back games by 20 points or more since the 2017-2018 season.

"It was a big win," Alabama coach Nate Oats said after the game. "We talked about what kinda character are we gonna have coming off of a big win at Kentucky. [...] I thought our guys responded great. The start to the game was great.

"Happy for our guys."

Although Alabama senior wing Herb Jones was questionable due to a finger dislocation sustained on Tuesday night, he not only played but surprisingly started.

"If Herb Jones can walk and breathe, he's probably going to play," Oats said.

Joining Jones was sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly, who had missed the last two weeks with an unnamed medical condition.

After scoring the first two points of the ballgame in the first half, the Razorbacks enjoyed 44 seconds of lead time before Alabama took over. A 19-2 run by the Crimson Tide gave Alabama a 22-5 lead early.

It seemed that nothing could go Arkansas’ was in the first half. On top of stellar defense by Alabama that resulted in a combined eight steals and two blocks, Arkansas was unable to get any offensive momentum together, shooting just 23-percent from the floor in the first half and 14-percent from beyond the arc.

A 9-2 run by Alabama to close out the half didn’t do much good for Arkansas, either. At halftime, the Crimson Tide led the Razorbacks 42-19.

Alabama came out of the gate in the second half with poor effort — a stark contrast from how it finished the first half. A three-pointer, a dunk and another three-pointer to open the second half by Arkansas put Alabama coach Nate Oats in a foul mood, resulting in him putting Alex Reese and James Rojas on the bench for the first good bit of the half.

The substitutions seemed to work, and Alabama was able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the game. The Crimson Tide emerged from Coleman Coliseum victorious once gain, defeating the Razorbacks 90-59.

Senior guard John Petty Jr. led the Crimson Tide in points on the day with 17 and also tallied four rebounds and an assist. Two other Alabama players in sophomore guard Jaden Shackelford and Jones also attained double-digit points with 16 and 13, respectively.

On top of leading the Crimson Tide in points on the day, Petty also set an all-time career record for the Crimson Tide. Just under halfway through the second half, Petty hit his 264th career three-pointer, setting a new Alabama program record. The senior guard ultimately finished the game with 265 threes.

"It means a lot to me," Petty said. "But it's also going to be fun to celebrate with my teammates because without them I wouldn't be in this position. Without getting great shots from them, without them doing their thing — attracting people then kicking it out to me — so just as much as it is on me it's on them as well."

Freshman guard Josh Primo led the team in rebounds with five.

With the win, Alabama rises to 11-3 on the season and is 6-0 in SEC play. Arkansas falls to 10-4 on the year and is 2-4 in the conference.

Next up, Alabama travels to Baton Rouge, La. to take on LSU on Tuesday (8 p.m. CT, ESPN2).

Published Jan 16, 2021

JOEY BLACKWELL

Joey Blackwell is an award-winning journalist and assistant editor for BamaCentral and has covered the Crimson Tide since 2018. He primarily covers Alabama football, men's basketball and baseball, but also covers a wide variety of other sports. Joey earned his bachelor's degree in History from Birmingham-Southern College in 2014 before graduating summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2020 with a degree in News Media. He has also been featured in a variety of college football magazines, including Lindy's Sports and BamaTime.