Alabama Basketball: Nate Oats has Crimson Tide on a roll

Alabama basketball defeated Richmond Sunday night, winning its fifth game out of its last six contests. The Nate Oats rebuild is taking shape.

When the Alabama basketball team left the Bahamas a month ago, the Crimson Tide was 2-4 and the prospects of a quick turnaround by Nate Oats appeared dim. The problem appeared to be the roster rather than Nate Oats. But with two players lost to season-ending injury and transfer Jahvon Quinerly sitting out this season, Oats looked to not have the personnel necessary to successfully run his system of play.

Since then Nate Oats’ Alabama basketball team has won five of six games, stretching its record to 7-5. The single loss was by two points on the road at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 10-2 and ranked No. 20 in the nation.

The latest win Sunday night was over the Richmond Spiders in Tuscaloosa. The Spiders were the higher-ranked team based on the NCAA Net Rankings. Richmond entered the game ranked No. 51. The Alabama Crimson Tide was ranked No. 78.

How good is Richmond? The Spiders were 10-2 with wins over Boston College, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin. Their No. 51 Net Ranking was higher than Ole Miss, Xavier, Florida, Virginia Tech, LSU, Virginia, Missouri and Iowa State.

The 90-78 win over Richmond was easier than most basketball experts expected. One reason was Crimson Tide freshman, Jaden Shackelford. The young sharpshooter led the Tide in scoring with 28 points on 8-for-18 shooting, including 6-for-13 outside the arc. He also added eight rebounds. Another reason was the Tide defense held Richmond to 39 percent shooting and just 25 percent from three. A third reason was the Tide did not self-destruct with turnovers. The Tide committed 15, but seven of those came from John Petty. Jr. Otherwise, Alabama basketball did not gift Richmond with many extra possessions.

Petty and Kira Lewis Jr. scored 17 points each. Lewis added four rebounds and four assists and only one turnover. Except for the turnovers, Petty had another strong game with six rebounds and four assists. Herbert Jones pitched in 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Speaking after the game, Nate Oats talked about Shackelford’s performance.

"When you combine offense and defense, I thought it was his best game. We’ve been on him about his defense. But he’s always got confidence, which I love. He’s a great kid, and has a great attitude. I’ve talked about how he is maybe the best freshman I’ve coached in terms of being ready to play and I think people are starting to see what I mean."

Alabama basketball will need its new-found momentum to begin SEC play. Saturday the Tide travels to Florida, followed by Mississippi State at home, Kentucky on the road and Auburn at home. Those four teams are a combined 37-10.

National basketball pundits predicted the SEC would be down this season. Tell that to Virginia and Indiana who have already lost to South Carolina and Arkansas, respectively.