Sam Walters Provides Needed Spark in Alabama Basketball Win over Florida

Crimson Tide freshman hits four big 3-pointers on a night when 3-point shooting was disastrous.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Good things happen when you connect on 3-pointers. The Alabama men’s basketball team can attest to that.

When those shots aren’t falling, it’s like watching a train wreck.

It was a total derailment Wednesday for No. 13 Alabama against No. 24 Florida inside Coleman Coliseum.

So what do you do when no one can find a groove—going 2 of 18 from 3-point range through the first 29 minutes—and your team needs a spark?

You give Sam Walters the ball.

Walters hit two big 3-pointers—the only two 3s attempted by Alabama in the first nine minutes of the second half—to give Alabama's offense a pulse. He also made a crucial assist in the final seconds of overtime to preserve the 98-93 Crimson Tide win.

He wasn’t thinking about being an offensive hero, though.

“Every time I go into a game I focus on defense and everything else will take care of itself,” Walters said of his 14-point game. “I know if I play good defense I have a better shot of staying in the game."

Clinging to a one-point lead with time running down, Walters tipped a Rylan Griffen shot back to Aaron Estrada, who made the putback with seven seconds to make it a 3-point lead.

“Crashing the boards is something we talked about all week,” Walters said. “That’s something I’ve been working on and I was able to tip it to him and he was able to score.”

Alabama had one of the worst 3-point shooting performances in the first half, hitting 11%.

Here is a look at other games where Alabama struggled with 3-point shooting this season:

• 4 of 22 vs. Creighton

• 4 of 21 vs. Tennessee

• 9 of 26 vs. Auburn

• 8 of 40 vs. Arizona

All these games resulted in losses.

Wednesday was different. Despite shooting 8 of 32 from long range (25%) Alabama did enough in the late stage of the second half and in overtime to win. After Walters woke up the 3-point offense, Alabama went 4 of 11 the rest of the way.

“We needed Sam to hit the big 3s he hit,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We know Sam’s not going to pass up any 3s. I thought Sam was big on defense, too. Sam’s been getting better for us. I always tell Sam he can be a two-way guy; he was a two-way guy tonight.”

Latrell Wrightsell was a late scratch due to a head injury. He had been a solid starter while hitting 44% on 3-pointers. His absence was noticeable.

With Wrightsell unavailable, Alabama changed the lineup, going with Griffen, Mark Sears, Grant Nelson and Estrada, along with Jerin Stevenson, while rotating Walters in.

“Guys like Sam and Jerin coming in to play more minutes, we needed them to step up tonight,” said Nelson, who scored 22 points with six blocks. “