Nate Oats expected his team to face some real adversity for the first time this regular season on Friday night against Seton Hall. A Shaheen Holloway-coached team is going to drag you down into the muck and force you to fight for everything you get.
That's why Oats scheduled this game. He wanted to see how his team responded to playing a physical team that would never quit. Results were mixed. Alabama earned an 82-76 win at Coleman Coliseum, but the process in getting there was far from pretty.
Trailing by six late in the first half, Alabama finished the half on a 16-0 run and extended it to 20-0 to open the second half. The Tide built a 17-point lead, and it looked like the rout was going to be on. But Seton Hall never went away, fighting back and making it a one-possession game late, forcing Alabama to hit some free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
A win is a win, however, and Alabama will be better moving forward for having gotten a fight from the Pirates.
Let's examine the biggest winners (buckets) and losers (bricks) from the Tide's six-point win.
Buckets:
Amari Allen
Amari Allen was a really good player as a freshman a season ago. Through four games of his sophomore season, it's pretty clear that he's morphed into a whole other animal.
Allen looks like a genuine superstar. When Alabama needed a bucket against Seton Hall, they were going through him.
In 33 minutes, Allen racked up 24 points on a hyper-efficient 6-of-10 from the floor with five assists and zero turnovers. He scored eight of the 16 Alabama points on the 16-0 run to finish the first half and flip the game around.
Allen is averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while shooting 50% from the floor and 52.6% from three-point range. He's playing like an All-American.
Aden Holloway
It was very clear from Oats' rotational usage against Seton Hall that he's still looking for guys he can trust to play winning basketball when things are tight outside of Allen and senior Aden Holloway. Those two combined for 68 minutes, and no other player played more than 23.
Holloway scored 18 points and hit 2-of-4 from downtown. The biggest takeaway from Holloway's performance wasn't on the offensive end, though. We know he's an elite offensive player and arguably the best shooter in the country.
But his competitiveness on the defensive end has ramped up a notch. He was pesky and all over Seton Hall's guards. That's a huge development for this team if he can keep it up.
Cole Cloer
Cole Cloer stepped into a three-point shot in the second half, and when it went through the net, he praised the Heavens above. It has been a rough start to the season as a shooter for Cloer, which is tough to stomach for a guy who can be an elite marksman.
COLE CLOER NAILS A 3 pic.twitter.com/5rQzadyluP
— Oate Noats (@OatetheNoats) November 14, 2026
Oats has been encouraging him to lose himself in defense and blue-collar effort, and the offense will come. He did that against Seton Hall and found himself in the game down the stretch as a result.
Cloer was third on the team in scoring with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. He was strong on the defensive end of the floor throughout, too.
He looked a lot more like the Cloer we saw during the two exhibition games.
Jaxon Richardson
Oats has praised Richardson throughout the preseason, and despite a slow start, it was only a matter of time before he started making a significant impact. The freshman missed a lot of time in the preseason with injuries and illnesses, so he's still acclimating himself to the rotation. But it's clear he's a player who has the trust of the coaching staff, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, and with his ability to give consistent effort.
In 11 minutes, he finished as a +11 in the plus/minus. He scored four points and grabbed five rebounds while blocking two shots.
Oats praised Richardson's effort, particularly on the glass, in his postgame press conference:
"I thought the one guy that did a rebound really well for his minutes, it really was Jaxon, which is why he was in there at the end," Oats said. "We needed stops and rebounds, and we know he’s gonna give us everything he’s got on defense; he’s got elite defensive ability, and then he goes and gets the ball. And he did that, and so we’re gonna have to play the guys that rebound."
Bricks:
Qayden Samuels
Alabama needs Samuels to take care of the ball better. He's a key part of the offense, and unfortunately, Oats couldn't afford to keep him on the floor against Seton Hall because he couldn't stop turning the ball over.
In 10 minutes, he coughed the ball up four times. He drove recklessly in the lane with no rhyme or reason. Seton Hall is a team that will force takeaways if you are loose with the ball, and Samuels was certainly that.
Tarris Bouie
Bouie has had a similar issue this year with being reckless with the ball in his hands, and that led to him falling out of the rotation against Seton Hall. The freshman only played four minutes and didn't record a stat outside of a single turnover.
As the rotation gets tighter with some tough games ahead for the Crimson Tide, Bouie could ultimately get phased out a bit if the turnovers and ball stoppages continue on offense. He's got to play within himself and move the basketball, or Richardson will continue to eat into his minutes.
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