AL.com instant analysis: How Alabama crushed undefeated, No. 19 South Carolina

Alabama Basketball beats undefeated No. 19 South Carolina Check out the scene at Coleman Coliseum as the Alabama basketball team hands Frank Martin and the 19th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks their first loss of the season.

Alabama almost beat Ole Miss. It stuck with Kentucky, but didn't have enough to win.

So it faced undefeated South Carolina without an SEC win Wednesday. And Avery Johnson's squad crushed the No. 19 Gamecocks.

The 73-50 win saw Alabama's lead swell as large as 27 in front of a crowd still buzzing from Monday's football national championship. On a night the school honored three members of that team, the basketball version put on its own show.

Riley Norris scored a career-high 27 with 3-point shooting. As a team, Alabama made 13 from behind the arc.

South Carolina (15-1, 2-1) hadn't won by fewer than four points so far this season. It went scoreless in the first 7:09 of the second half as Alabama scored the first 13 points to blow things open.

This was Alabama's third win over a ranked team after knocking off Wichita State and Notre Dame back in November.

Alabama (10-5, 1-2 SEC) heads to Nashville next for a 5 p.m. CT Saturday visit with Vanderbilt.

Norris goes off

The sophomore's first-half outburst set the tone and rocked Coleman Coliseum. His fifth 3-pointer in the first nine minutes gave Alabama a 22-9 edge. By halftime, Norris equaled his career high with 18 points and 5-for-5 shooting from the perimeter.

Alabama did a good job of penetrating the lane and clearing out the corner for the hot shooter.

"It was easy for me," Norris said. "I just spotted up and Justin (Coleman) and Retin (Obasohan) and all the guards penetrated, got two on the ball and they found me."

Norris' 3-pointer with just under 8:00 left gave Alabama a 27-point edge. His last 3 came at the 3-minute mark, pushing the scoring total to 27. Norris left to a standing ovation with 2:20 left and the students chanting his name.

Norris' previous career-best was 18 against Louisiana-Lafayette earlier this year. His previous high for 3-pointers was three in a game.

Sloppy South Carolina

The Gamecocks were careless from the opening tip. It had three turnovers by the first media timeout and it got worse from there.

The guests finished with 18 giveaways. Alabama took advantage by scoring 23 points off the mistakes.

"We played awful," said South Carolina forward Michael Carrera. "We played awful. Offensively and defensively, we played awful. That's all I'm going to say."

Hard practice

Alabama coach Avery Johnson said he didn't recognize his team in 77-61 loss to Kentucky on Saturday. They looked lackadaisical, he said. It wasn't the look he wanted at this point in the season.

"We probably had one of our hardest practices on yesterday," Johnson said. "Our scout team, which consists of Avery Johnson Jr., Lawson Schaffer, Nick King, Christian Clark and Donta Hall, they really put it on our guys yesterday. It was an intense battle for the entire two hours plus of practice. Every drill, every situation and it carried over."

That was what South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. Looking at game film, he told his team Alabama was the most intense team they'll see. They play harder than anyone else, Martin said.

"They attacked us," Martin said. "They did to us what we usually do to people, which is not let people off."

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.