When Alabama junior wide receiver Amari Cooper declared for the 2015 NFL Draft on Friday, Tennessee fans probably thought they had rid themselves of the Cooper curse.
But Rodney Cooper of the Crimson Tide’s basketball team kept it alive on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena in UT’s 56-38 loss to Alabama.
At 6-foot-6, 215 pounds, Rodney Cooper epitomized what UT coach Donnie Tyndall described as Alabama guards who “look like they are football players,” and he stuffed the stat sheet against the Vols as if he were Amari Cooper.
A 2014 Heisman Trophy finalist, Amari Cooper caught nine passes for 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns when the Crimson Tide defeated the Vols 34-20 at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 25.
In total, he accumulated 21 catches for 461 yards and five touchdowns in three games against UT from 2012 to 2014.
But back to the hardwood, because the irony of Rodney Cooper’s performance in Saturday’s game did not stop with the fact the Crimson Tide has been led by a player of the same last name in recent football victories over UT.
With both teams playing zone defense and UT (9-5, 1-1 SEC) in the midst of a 13-minute scoring drought late in the second half, Rodney Cooper slipped a dagger in the Vols’ back.
His jump shot from the elbow with 2:05 remaining extended Alabama’s lead to an insurmountable 49-36 and served as a perfect example of the zone-beating offense the Vols lacked while limping to their lowest point total in a home game during the shot clock era.
Tennessee’s offense stagnated in the second half to the point where it seemed as if there were just two options. The first was to play a game of hot potato with the basketball in which the Vols would swing the ball around the perimeter until a semi-open player heaved a jumper towards the basket once the shot clock dipped below 10 seconds.
The other option was to make a bull-headed rush towards the paint with the ball and hope for a foul or offensive rebound.
Both failed miserably. But UT did not deviate from either of those strategies, and it resulted in one of the worst offensive performances in school history.
Shots like Rodney Cooper’s remarkably simple and relatively open jumper from the high-post with 2:05 remaining were either not available or not pursued by the Vols, who made just five field goals in the second half.
In total, Alabama’s senior guard finished with 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and five assists.
He also offered a glimpse at what Tyndall hopes is in UT’s future.
“He’s a senior and he’s a good player,” Tyndall said. “When our young guys are in our program two to three years, I think they’ll look like that. He’s good.”
But as far as this season is concerned, Tyndall should hope his players learn how to beat a zone defense like Rodney Cooper did Saturday in the latest manifestation of the Cooper curse.
David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at [email protected]
