Alabama Basketball: Disappointing performance led to frustrating loss

Alabama basketball lost 68-52 to Northeastern. An early loss should not cause alarm but the Tide played so poorly questions must be asked.

Alabama basketball has now lost 47 games in the three season and three games coaching tenure of Avery Johnson. The one his team lost Thursday afternoon in Charleston, SC is easily the most disappointing loss. Not that Northeastern is a poor team. They were a respectable 23-10 last season and are predicted to be Colonial Athletic champions in 2018-19.

One of the 23 wins was against Michigan State. The Northeastern Huskies returned the key players from last season and strengthened the roster with three transfers. They have a good chance to be an NCAA Tournament team.

Which explains why the Crimson Tide players had no reason to take Northeastern lightly. The game opened without focus and enough effort by the Tide, leading to an early 8-0 Northeastern lead. The Tide cut the deficit to five but quickly was in a 16-5 hole. At that point, the game was basically over. The margin was cut to seven, five times, but never closer.

Avery did not put Alabama basketball in a position to win

As a fan of Avery Johnson, it is hard to be critical. He is to be commended for making Alabama basketball relevant again. The class and integrity he brings to the program are highly valued. The Crimson Tide has played some quality basketball under Avery and won big games.

On Thursday afternoon, the Alabama basketball coaching staff did not have the team prepared to play. In the first four minutes, the Tide missed four shots and made one turnover. The result was an 8-0 lead for Northeastern. It took Alabama basketball 10:31 of the first half to score 10 points.

The Tide was as poor at defending as it was at scoring. Northeastern shot 55.6 percent in the first half, including 42.9 percent from outside the arc. The proficiency of Northeastern’s offense was no surprise. The Huskies can shoot. In beating Harvard, they were 13-of-23, shooting threes.

Alabama basketball under Avery has struggled to defend perimeter shooters. Northeastern’s roster and style of play was a terrible matchup for the Tide. Given the Huskies’ perimeter efficiency, why did Avery start two bigs? Against most teams, starting Donta Hall and Galin Smith makes sense. But neither one is a good perimeter defender. Why not start another wing defender?

Even worse than starting a big lineup, was using zone defense. Northeastern has too many shooters for a zone to be effective. The Huskies scored 68 points from eight scorers. Only 20 of the points came inside the paint.

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In typical fashion, Avery’s frequent player rotation led to ten Tide players in the first half. Hall and Smith only got eight first-half minutes each. Daniel Giddins got seven minutes. The first-half output for the Tide’s three bigs was 2 points, 2 rebounds, one assist and two turnovers.

In fairness to the trio above, many of their smaller, quicker teammates did not perform much better. The Tide had two players with good games. John Petty led the team in scoring with 17 points. Dazon Ingram added nine points. The two players were the Tide’s leading rebounders with five each.

Alabama basketball shot 15.8 percent on 3-for-19 three-point shots. The biggest weakness for Northeastern this season is rebounding. The Tide won the battle of the boards, only 27-25. From eight offensive rebounds, the Tide scored just two points.

Will Avery’s ensemble roster produce?

In his Alabama basketball tenure, Avery has been generous with playing time. Developing an eight-man player rotation is not Avery’s style. After such a bad loss, it will be interesting to see Avery’s response against Ball State on Friday. Playing just the guys who play hard and smart every minute on the court might be where to start. On Thursday, that would have meant some 4 vs. 5 or even 3 vs. 5 minutes. As much as we like Avery, that’s on him.

Friday’s Tide opponent, Ball State is 1-2 on the season. The two losses were nine points each against ranked teams, Purdue and Virginia Tech.