Alabama Basketball: Sometimes you just have to win ugly

After Alabama Basketball held on for a comeback victory over Mississippi State, Nate Oats said the Tide only won because of its defense. No one can disagree. The Crimson Tide made just 18% of its 28, three-point shots. Dom Welch, who went into the game,1-for-17 for the season, made two of his three shots outside the arc. No other Crimson Tide player made more than one.

Four Crimson Tide players shot threes and made none of them. Noah Clowney was 0-for-6. Mark Sears was 0-for-5. Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley were each, 0-for1. Rylan Griffen was 1-for-5; Brandon Miller, 1-for-4; Jahvon Quinery, 1-for-3.

The Crimson Tide defense was not solid for the entire game. Mississippi State never trailed in the first half, leading 36-29 at the break. In the first half, the physical Bulldogs dominated the paint, scoring 26 of their 36 points on the inside. Twice in the first half, Mississippi State led by 10 points.

With 12: 48 left in the second half, Mississippi State led 46-39. Alabama scored the game’s next nine points to lead by two at the 9:19 mark. Rylen Griffen had five of the Tide’s nine points during the run. Nate Oats commented on the freshman, saying, “Rylan has no fear … prepares himself to play well.”

The game’s real turnaround came from the Tide’s second-half defense.  Nate Oats’ assessment of the second-half defense was,

"Our energy got better, we played better, got some steals, got some deflections."

As improved as the Alabama Basketball defense was in the second half, the win also resulted from some gritty offensive performances. Jahvon Quinerly led the Crimson Tide with 14 points and four assists. Noah Clowney could not make a perimeter shot, but scored 13 points anyway and led the Tide in rebounding with eight boards.

Most importantly, Alabama was 19-for-22 at the foul line, led by Nick Pringle who was a perfect 3-for-3, Noah Clowney who was 7-for-8 and Jahvon Quinerly who was 5-for-6.

Giving Jahcon Quinerly credit, Nate Oats said,

"JQ was huge. He can shoot. So, they couldn’t really sag him as much. They tried to switch, he’s got some explosiveness to get into the paint….He led us in scoring tonight when we needed some scoring tonight."

Alabama Basketball Valuable Win

The Tide’s three-point win was probably more valuable than another double-digit victory. Nate Oats explained after the game,

"Sometimes you’ve gotta learn how to win a tight game, and you can’t execute that in practice. … It’s good to be put in those situations and figure out how to get a win. … It’s not gonna be the last close game we have."

Winning ugly is never a problem, as long as lessons are learned. Mississippi State did Alabama a big favor by fighting hard throughout and forcing the Crimson Tide to dig deep.