Alabama basketball, despite being tied at half and struggling for much of the game, pulled away late to secure another SEC win and stay one game back of first place.
Despite being tied at the half at 40 a piece, Alabama Basketball plays a much better second half in front of a loud and vocal Coleman Coliseum crowd and pulls out the victory over LSU 80-73 to move to 6-1 in the SEC and game back over rival Auburn.
Labaron Philon tweaked his ankle in practice before the game, but he still scored 11 points on the night.
The Tide were without freshman Derrion Reid for a fourth straight game, who was out with an ankle injury and was questionable heading into the game.
Alabama had only 14 turnovers, and the team had 15 assists on the night.
Alabama’s Clifford Omoruyi wins the hard hat for the first time this season.
“I thought we did a pretty good job defensively in the second half. Held them to a .083 in the second half. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys in the second half,” said head coach Nate Oats.
Takeaway #1: LSU dominates glass in the first half
Corey Chest dominated Alabama in the first half on the glass with 15 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end. This helped the Tigers put up 10 more shot attempts than the Tide to keep the game tied. Chest had a double-double at the half.
LSU was up 23-17 on the glass at the half, and Alabama responded to finish the game, only losing the rebounding battle 43-41.
Omoruyi answered the adversity after being benched to start the second half due to the poor effort on the glass and grabbed seven rebounds in the second half to lead the team with nine on the night.
Takeaway #2: Guys stepped up in scoring sheet
Chris Youngblood got his first start in an Alabama uniform and came out hot from the floor, starting the game with seven points in the first four minutes of the game and finishing the game with 13 points on 5-10 shooting.
Aden Holloway leads the team in scoring yet again and continues to be a spark plug off the bench, finishing with 19 points on 3-8 from downtown.
Mouhamed Dioubate continues the scoring surge from the other night with 14 points on 6-8 shooting and also grabbed six rebounds on the night.
Grant Nelson had a solid night and finished with 12 points, but he was not as aggressive on the glass as he has been all year, with only three rebounds.
Takeaway #3: Mark Sears did not play in the second half
For only the third time in his career and second time at Alabama, Mark Sears was held scoreless and only appeared in 17 minutes tonight, all of which came in the first half.
Sears was visibly upset on the sidelines after the first-half struggles, which also affected his play on the defensive end and effort on the floor, which had a domino effect on the benching in the half.
As a senior leader, the Tide will need Sears to respond quickly to the message of the benching and have a big bounce-back game in the next game.
“This is all I’m gonna say about the playing time stuff. We played the guys in the second half that we thought would give us the best chance to win the game, and we won the game,” said Oats.
Next up for Alabama (17-3, 6-1): at Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3) – Jan. 29 at 9 p.m. EST
Next up for LSU (15-4, 1-5): vs. Auburn (18-1, 6-0) – Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. EST
[…] basketball is coming off a struggle win versus LSU, an 80-73 victory. It pulled away late to get the win, while its player of the year candidate, Mark Sears, […]