The Alabama Basketball team enters today’s game with Arkansas State looking to find its way back into the win column. Coming off of a loss to the Clemson Tigers, the Alabama Basketball team has fallen completely out of the AP Top 25. This will be the best chance for the team to find its way back into the win column as their upcoming schedule is a gauntlet. After today’s game, the Alabama Basketball team will face three Top Ten teams in Purdue, Creighton, and Arizona.
The Red Wolves will be an interesting opponent for the Alabama Basketball team despite their 2-6 record. The Red Wolves’ problem hasn’t been scoring points as they’re averaging 74.25 points per game. The Alabama Basketball team has to figure out its identity defensively as they’re allowing 76.3 points per game.
The Red Wolves are well-balanced offensively as Taryn Todd, Freddy Hicks, and Dyondre Dominguez are all averaging 13 points per game. At 6″9 Dominguez will provide a problem size-wise for an Alabama Basketball team that lacks size in its starting rotation.
This game the Alabama Basketball team will also be without Nick Pringle who has been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team according to Nate Oats who said the following:
"He’s suspended indefinitely for right now just for conduct detrimental to the team, nothing serious off the court just in-house."
The suspension will likely lead to an increase in minutes for Mohammed Wague and Sam Walters, both players can play power forward and are averaging 11 minutes per game.
Alabama Basketball: Time to find a rhythm.
It’s no secret that this Alabama Basketball hasn’t fully gelled as a unit yet. Part of this issue could be the stretches between games that haven’t allowed for this team to get a continued run of playing time. The team however will need to find a rhythm as it has three top opponents on its schedule in the weeks to come. Losing a leader like Pringle could continue this team’s issues or provide the team a moment to rally around with players needing to step up. The Crimson Tide needs to look impressive tonight and leave this game with a win to build confidence before they face Purdue on Saturday.
Note: Stats Via ESPN