Leadership lifts Alabama basketball past Missouri

By WVUA-23 Sports Reporter Sam Holley

Jahvon Quinerly was not one of the stars in Alabama’s 72-61 win over Missouri (24-9, 11-7). But stats don’t always translate to who had the biggest impact.

Rylan Griffen, a freshman guard for Alabama, said Quinerly instilled confidence in him at halftime.

“Jahvon Quinerly, you know he comes up to me just talks to me”, Griffen said. “I had a bad first half and he came up to me and was like you’re good. We’re going to need you this game. Don’t put your head down. We’re going to need you.”

Quinerly, the former SEC Tournament MVP, started 27 of Alabama’s 32 games last season but has come off the bench in all but the last two games. Even though he just moved into the starting lineup, he’s been the go-to veteran that the team has gone to in the locker room this season.

“This was a dog fight that we just finished with so the next one is gonna be even a bigger dogfight”, Quinerly said. “You know thats something I’m gonna let the guys know when we come together again. It’s a game of runs. Whoever we end up playing tomorrow if they go on a run we got to be able to answer it and if we’re not making shots, we gotta get stops.”

Alabama (28-5, 16-2) will face Texas A&M (25-8, 15-3) in the SEC Tournament Championship on Saturday. Alabama will be looking for their 2nd tournament title in the past three seasons.