Alabama Basketball: Tide says ‘Take that Will Wade’

Alabama Basketball: Crimson Tide made Will Wade a strong offer in Baton Rouge; ‘Stop This’ barrage of rainmakers. The Tigers were defenseless in response.

In what was anticipated to be a close game, Alabama basketball destroyed Will Wade’s LSU Tigers, 105-75 in Baton Rouge. The Crimson Tide took a 3-0 lead on its first shot; a nylon swishing bomb from John Petty Jr. The Bengal Tigers never came back. The lead was eight points in just over three minutes of play. Back-to-back threes by Josh Primo pushed the lead to 14 points at 16:04 in the first half.

The Crimson Tide led 60-32 at halftime. In the first half, Nate Oats’ Alabama basketball team shot 73.7 percent outside the arc while outrebounding the Bengal Tigers 19-14. The second half was more of the same until Oats unloaded his bench with several minutes left in the game.

John Petty Jr. who made his first seven three-point shots, shot 80 percent outside the arc to score 24 points. Freshman Josh Primo made 6-of-8 threes. Jahvon Quinerly made 6-of-7. On all shot attempts, the Crimson Tide trio was a combined 24-for-31, scoring a total of 68 of the Crimson Tide’s 105 points.

Until the one-sided game got ragged in the second half, every Tide player battled defensively on every possession. The Crimson Tide played harder, smarter and better than LSU. What makes the 30-point win so remarkable is LSU is better than a good basketball team. The Bengal Tigers are very good and the Crimson Tide destroyed them.

Speaking after the game, John Petty Jr. said,

"Just feels like another day in the gym."

Nate Oats also downplayed the Tide’s blowout victory.

Nate was asked if his team has another (higher) level it can reach. His answer was,

"Yeah, there actually is because we’re still making mistakes. … There’s guys that are not playing particularly well right now that have a lot more in them, that can give us a lot more."

Alabama basketball fans are in no mood to doubt Nate Oats. It is uncommon for a basketball team to play better than the Crimson Tide did for thirty-plus minutes in Baton Rouge. But if this team continues to improve, Will Wade better work on more strong ass offers to players.

What else happened Tuesday night?

Nate Oats was serious about his team getting better.

"We’re still making mistakes. Averaging 15 turnovers. Guys that aren’t playing particularly well that can give us a lot more. Rebounding, pretty good until the last 8 minutes. We’ll do a clean-up from this game. Keep getting better."

Alabama basketball fans will enjoy another Nate Oats’ observation; “I think when guys are pulling for their teammates as hard as our guys are, good things happen.” RTR!