By ADAM ZAGORIA
Alabama freshman star Brandon Miller was booed the first time he touched the ball Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena and was repeatedly serenaded with chants of “Lock him up” and “Guilty.”
Yet despite everything swirling around him, the 6-foot-9 freshman proceeded to go out and score a career-high 41 points with 8 rebounds, including a lay up to send the game into overtime and the game-winner in overtime, as No. 2 Alabama beat South Carolina, 78-76. He made six 3-pointers in the game.
“He’s one of the most mentally-tough kids I’ve ever coached,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I’m not surprised.”
Truly a bizarre scene.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 23, 2023
With South Carolina fans chanting "lock him up" Brandon Miller misses a free throw. Play is briefly stopped shortly after due to a fight in the stands, behind the same basket Miller was shooting to. pic.twitter.com/oAmXVrbDCF
Just before tip-off, Alabama released a statement saying that Miller, a projected lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft, “remains an active member of our team” and won’t face any suspension.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne and officials at the school reached that conclusion despite the fact that Miller has been linked to the murder last month of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris near the school’s campus.
Asked by ESPN’s Rece Davis what his response was to those who believe Byrne and Alabama are making an exception for Miller because of his talent — and the team’s season — he said, “That’s a fair narrative that people can immediately go to.
“What I have tried to think about this entire time is let’s do what we think is right,” Byrne added. “What I felt is that Brandon needed to be treated fairly like any other student-athlete and that’s what’s been driving us through that. Let’s do what we think is right.”
Miller had a gun in his car and when his teammate Darius Miles texted him that he was having an incident with someone else and asked that Miller bring him the gun, Miller drove the gun to the scene.
"You cannot, with a straight face, tell me that driving around with a gun in your car and then bringing that gun to a place where it was very quickly used to kill a woman isn't some violation of some rule in your program."
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 22, 2023
—@GaryParrishCBS pic.twitter.com/BQg07o72LN
On Wednesday, Jim Standridge, Miller’s Alabama-based attorney, issued a statement, which said in part that the “legal handgun” belonged to Miles and that he “left it in the back seat of Brandon’s vehicle” before later texting Miller and asking “him to bring him his firearm.”
The shooting occurred early on the morning of Jan. 15 on the Strip, a student-oriented business district of bars and restaurants near the Tuscaloosa campus, police said. Harris was sitting in the passenger seat of a car when she was struck by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Michael Lynn Davis. Miller’s car was shot multiple times during the incident.
Davis and Miles were arrested and charged with capital murder.
“Brandon never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur,” the statement says.
Alabama (24-4, 14-1 SEC) remains a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will next host Arkansas on Saturday.
A variety of NBA personnel and agents weighed in on how the situation might impact Miller’s draft stock. For more on that, read this.
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