Alabama Basketball: LSU denies the Crimson Tide needed road win

Alabama basketball had an opportunity for a statement road win Wednesday night in Baton Rouge. Instead, LSU was the team making a statement.

Listing everything that went wrong for Alabama basketball in Baton Rouge is likely too much for most Tide fans. The Alabama Crimson Tide had an opportunity to get a big, road win. It only took about 12 minutes of first-half play, for that opportunity to vanish. Eventually, it was a 14-point loss, but that score does not correctly reflect how thoroughly LSU dominated most aspects of the game.

The early evening contest started out poorly for the Tide when John Petty Jr. began the game as an observer. Ostensibly, Petty did not practice well, causing him to be relegated to the bench. He ended up playing 32 minutes with an output of four points, seven boards, an assist and three turnovers.

The Crimson Tide was led in scoring by Jaden Shackelford with 21 points and Alex Reese with 17 points. Herbert Jones grabbed eight rebounds but added only seven points. Kira Lewis Jr. had eight assists and 13 points.

LSU had only seven players score. It only needed five of them. The Bengal Tigers balanced scoring was led by Emmitt Williams with 23 points. Williams added 11 rebounds but did not lead LSU in that stat. A player, well known to Alabama basketball fans was the leading rebounder. Trendon Watford scored 17 points and pulled down 15 rebounds.

We are not subjecting Tide fans to an actual list of Wednesday night failures. If we were, rebounding would be on it. LSU won the rebound battle, 49-31 and earned 20, second-chance points. The Crimson Tide had only five, second-chance points.

Three-point shooting was poor for both teams. LSU was worse at 19 percent. The Tide shot only 26 percent outside the arc. The problem with those long-ball numbers was the Tide launched 38 of them while LSU only attempted 16.

The Tide did not get to the foul line often and made only six of ten attempts. LSU’s repeated attacks to the basket led to 20 free throws. The Bengal Tigers missed once for 95 percent.

Not that it mattered, but the Tide did win the turnover battle. LSU had 14, ball-handling mistakes. The Crimson Tide made only eight turnovers.

Speaking on what led to not starting John Petty, Nate Oats said,

"We need to get our leaders to lead. We haven’t been practicing hard enough in my opinion. So we tried to make a statement. It backfired."

Nate Oats was frustrated with his team’s lack of rebounding effort in the win over Kansas State. It is fair to say he now has more than rebounding effort to frustrate him. Whatever is going on with this Alabama basketball team, an answer is needed soon. At 12-8, the record allows for a run to an NCAA Tournament bid. But probably at least seven more, regular-season wins are needed.

Two tough home games are next for the Crimson Tide. Arkansas is first, this Saturday, followed by Tennessee on Tuesday.