Darius Miles' Dunk Puts Exclamation Point On Alabama Basketball's Commanding Win Over Georgia

With seconds remaining in garbage time of the Crimson Tide's clobbering of Georgia, the freshman forward might have just recorded the dunk of the year

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Even in a limited-capacity Coleman Coliseum, the University of Alabama men's basketball team still found a way to make 2,055 spectators sound like a sell-out crowd. 

In the final moments of the Crimson Tide's dominating 115-82 win over Georgia on Saturday afternoon, freshman forward Darius Miles saw extended playing time and, possibly, made what some could call the dunk of the year. 

Just under 30 seconds on the clock, Miles blew by Bulldogs guard Mikal Starks and met forward Josh Taylor at the rim and put him on a poster, that has gone viral on social media.

SHEESH 😳 pic.twitter.com/We4tArDb0d

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 13, 2021

That thunderous basket put Alabama (17-5, 12-1 SEC) up 112-81 and the entire Crimson Tide bench went bananas.

"That was crazy," Alabama guard Josh Primo said. "We are all so happy for him because he works so hard in practice. He pushes us all the time and sometimes is the best guy in practice. He just works really hard. When he went up, we all knew what was going to happen. 

"It was just a crazy moment for us all."

Miles, who only averages 4.1 minutes a game, finished Saturday's contest against the Bulldogs with seven points and four rebounds, which were both career-highs. 

Crimson Tide guard Jaden Shackelford echoed Primo's sentiment.

"He is a hard worker and takes advantage of the times he gets in the game," Shackelford added. "Things like that happen to people who work hard. The bench reaction was crazy. It's good to see somebody get what they deserve. That dunk was crazy.

"It better be on SportsCenter."

Miles tried it again with six seconds left but missed and was fouled on the second try but Georgia guard K.D. Johnson. Alabama coach Nate Oats made sure to let Bulldogs coach Tom Crean know that it wasn't a matter of running the score up. 

Oats and Crean are well familiar with each, going back to when Crean was coaching at Marquette and Oats was in Wisconsin at Maranatha Baptist. 

"What I told our guys," Oats said. "We have had issues with the guys closing the games out with turnovers so I told them once the shot clock got under 30 seconds, dribble it out and don't shoot unless they are pressing into you. If they are pressing you, just go by them and make a play. If they are going to keep playing hard on defense, trying to get steals, then still play offense. 

"We had enough turnovers in the game already. Darius did exactly what I told him to do. They pressed up into him at half-court so he went by him. I have a lot of respect for Tom Crean so I told him to dribble it out unless they pressed and [Crean] said no problem. I wanted to make sure he knew that I wasn't trying to run the score up... Way better end to the game."

At the end of the day, Oats was just as blown away by Miles' dunk as the rest of the crowd was. 

"That dunk Darius put down at the end," Oats said. "We know how talented that kid is. We are just trying to put it all together. Happy to see him be able to do that."