The 6th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide played an unusual Sunday noon game against the Kent State Golden Flashes. Much like the 11 am football kickoffs, the teams don’t always seem to be awake when the game starts. Both the Tide and the Flashes fell victim to this. In a sloppy, poor shooting performance, Bama used defense and rebounding to take the 81-54 victory. The Tide improved to 10-2 while Kent State fell to 9-3 on the year.
Alabama coach Nate Oats sent out a starting lineup of Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Labaron Philon, Clifford Omoruyi, and Jarin Stevenson to start the game. A derp fest ensued. If the teams weren’t missing shots they were turning the ball over. At the first media timeout (15:39 left) the score was tied 2-2 with the Tide’s points coming on a pair of Sears free throws.
A whole new five of Chris Youngblood, Aden Holloway, Houston Mallette, Derrion Reid, and Aiden Sherrell were on the floor when play resumed. Holloway made a hoop on a drive and Youngblood hit a three pointer for a 7-4 lead. Reid was very active and scored on a couple of drives and at the free throw line to build a 13-4 lead at the 11:47 mark. A pair of Stevenson free throws with 6:56 left used the Tide lead to 20-6. Sears hit from long rang for a 30-12 lead with 4:50 left. At this point Nelson already had 10 rebounds.
The Tide allowed the Golden Flashes to make a run to close the margin to 36-24 late in the half. Over the last six minutes of the half Oats was subbing out any player that committed a turnover or committed a foul. There was a turnstile of players coming and going to close out the half. At the break Bama lead 39-24.
In the first half the Tide shot 13-33 for 39%. 2-17 for 12% from deep, and 11-17 for 65% at the free throw line. A robust 37 rebounds, 13 on the offensive end, allowed Bama to have the comfortable lead. Alabama had four assists, four blocks, five steals, and 13 huge turnovers. Reid led the way with eight points in nine minutes. Nelson played 12 minutes and scored six points with 12 rebounds. Dioubate played only seven minutes but grabbed six rebounds.
Kent State shot a sickly 9-39 for 23% including 1-15 from three. The Flashes made 5-6 at the free throw line, totaled 18 rebounds, had two assists, one blocks, and turned it over six times. Jalen Sullinger scored seven to lead KSU.
Oats started Reid for Stevenson along with the other four original starters to open the second half. Sears scored twice in a row on drives to the basket to build a 43-27 lead. Nelson turned the ball over and was immediately replaced by Stevenson after one minute of play. At the 15:10 mark the lineup consisted of Sherrell, Youngblood, Dioubate, Stevenson, and Holloway.
The offense was still stagnant but the defensive intensity continued and the score remained comfortable throughout. Youngblood and Mallette both hit from deep, Philon scored in the lane and from three, and Holloway hit a pair from behind the arc for a 76-44 lead with four minutes left. Max Scharnowski was inserted with a little over one minute left to the delight of the crowd. Another Holloway three was the final basket for the 81-54 victory.
In the second half Bama improved to 14-27 for 52% and 7-19 for 39% from three. The free throw shooting regressed to 7-18 for 39%. Overall the Tide shot 27-60 for 45%, 9-35 from three for 26%, and a dismal 18-35 for 51% at the charity stripe. Bama finished with 60 rebounds, seven blocks, eight steals, 14 assists, and 19 turnovers. Sears led the way with 16 points in only 26 minutes and committed five turnovers. Holloway finished with 13 points in 20 minutes. Nelson scored nine on 4-5 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds in 22 minutes. Omoruyi scored seven in 19 minutes, but added 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Reid finished with nine points and six rebounds in 19 minutes. Philon added nine points and five assists in 21 minutes of action.
Kent State shot 12-36 in the second with 1-12 from deep and 5-7 at the line. Overall the Flashes shot only 29% on 21-75 from the field and 7% from three on 2-27 while making 10-13 free throws. KSU had 40 rebounds, seven steals, five assists, two blocks, and 11 turnovers. Kent State did not have a player score in double figures.
For only the second time in Oats tenure the Tide has 10 wins in pre conference play, and still have one more game to play. Oats mentioned that the team has several things to clean up prior to starting SEC play on January 4th. The 6th year coach lamented the poor shooting and turnovers, saying that after 13 turnovers in the first half in the last two games he told the team “you turn the ball over, you come out of the game.” Oats said he doesn’t know the issue but the free throw and three point shooting “will have to improve.” Despite the talk over the last few days of shortening the rotation, that did not really happen today, with 10 players playing 11 or more minutes. Mallette, coming off a strong game at North Dakota, seemed to be the odd man out with only six minutes of action.
Oats said the team will have the rest of Sunday off and be due back on December 26 for a 5 p.m. practice. Next up is another Sunday game, December 29th, at 2 p.m. against South Dakota State. The game will only be available on the SEC Network Plus. After that Oklahoma will come to town on January 4th to open the SEC portion of the schedule.
Roll Tide
