Alabama’s *other* star freshman guard just pushed the Tide to the round of 32

Alabama is through to the NCAA tournament’s round of 32, and it’s mostly thanks to a blue-chip freshman guard whose name isn’t Collin Sexton.

The Tide’s usual superstar did some good work in a round-of-64 win against Virginia Tech on Thursday in Pittsburgh. But it was John Petty, another rookie, who carried the day. Petty’s contributions were the single biggest reason the Tide beat Virginia Tech in Pittsburgh on Thursday, 86-83. They’ll try to upset No. 1 Villanova in the East Region on Saturday.

Sexton takes the shots more than anyone. He uses up about one in three Alabama possessions when he’s on the court, which is one of the highest usage rates in the country. That didn’t suddenly change against the Hokies. Sexton was still aggressive, and his 7-of-14 shooting (for 25 points) still made him the highest-volume chucker for Alabama.

But it was Petty who paced Alabama. His line was, of course, robust: 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting, three rebounds, three assists, two turnovers. He played 29 minutes and was by far the Tide’s most efficient player. The bulk of his brilliance was on three-pointers. Petty has been the Tide’s best three-point shooter all season, but that’s more indictment of the Tide than praise for Petty, who only entered at 36 percent. (Alabama was at 32 percent, 298th in the country. It’s not a strength.) Petty hit six of nine from deep on Thursday.

Alabama needed all of it. Sexton made some great plays, like he usually does. But the Tide’s five-star centerpiece was uneven. He had a game-high five turnovers to go with his 25 points, and he sometimes looked like he was outrunning his own teammates.

That’s easy to do when you’re as fast as Sexton, but Petty felt like a stabilizing force when Bama needed one most. And while Sexton became Bama’s leading scorer by piling up late points at the foul line and then did the on-court interview with TNT a few minutes later, it was Petty whose efforts put the Tide in a position to close the deal in the first place.

He was ranked the state of Alabama’s top prospect in the class of 2018 — the No. 5 shooting guard in the whole class of 2018 and its No. 33 player overall. Petty is a great athlete, not quite in Sexton’s class but ahead of almost everyone on the court every night.

Petty’s numbers this season aren’t huge, but he’s been an important contributor. He averaged 10 points. 2.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game entering the tournament. His effective field goal percentage was 52.7, a few ticks higher than Sexton’s (49.6), even though Sexton took four more shots per game and averaged nine more points. The biggest difference in their production is that Sexton gets to the foul line often and Petty doesn’t.

He’s probably not going 6-of-9 on threes again. But he has the talent to be a game-breaking presence against any team in the country, and the Wildcats are a significant test.

Villanova is a deeper, more polished team. It should win and play in the Sweet 16. But the tournament can be cruel, as Nova knows well. Among the many tournament disappointments that sandwich the school’s national title in 2016 is a loss in this same building, Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena, two years ago this month to No. 8 NC State. It came when Villanova was a top seed in the second round, and it happened because Nova’s shot went inexplicably cold all night. That could always happen again.

But even if Villanova goes cold, the Tide will have to be great to beat them. Jay Wright’s team plays such sharp defense that Sexton probably can’t carry the Tide past them on his own. A big upset requires a big supporting cast. Maybe Petty can be a catalyst.