After a ridiculous four-game stretch that featured games against St. John's, Purdue, Illinois, and Gonzaga, Alabama basketball enjoyed a step-down in competition on Tuesday night and cruised to a 115-76 win over UNLV on day two of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
This game was a mismatch on paper, and proved to be one on the court, too. The Crimson Tide was demonstrably the better team, and they proved it from the outset. Alabama cruised to a 15-point halftime lead and blew the game further open in the second half.
With a third game in three days coming on Wednesday night against Maryland (also an 11pm CT tip), the Tide being on cruise control against the Rebels allowed Nate Oats to conserve minutes for key players like Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway.
It was the exact bounce-back performance that Alabama needed following the loss to Gonzaga.
The most important observations from Alabama's win over UNLV
1. Aden Holloway bounced back from a poor shooting night against Gonzaga
Holloway shot just 2-of-10 from three in Monday night's loss to Gonzaga, which dropped his three-point percentage on the season down to just 30.6%. It was only a matter of time before he snapped out of that funk. It happened against UNLV.
Holloway hit 5-of-6 from three-point range, scoring a game high 26 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists.
Even without shooting his normal clip from deep, Holloway has gotten off to a terrific start to his junior season. If the shot comes around completely, he's going to have a huge year.
2. Nate Oats made a concerted effort to get Houston Mallette and Noah Williamson going
In a game that was an obvious mismatch coming in, Oats and the staff wisely made a concerted effort to get Houston Mallette and Noah Williamson involved more offensively. It worked for one, not so much the other.
Mallette was held scoreless against Gonzaga, but he only attempted two shots. Alabama struggled to get him involved. They force fed the fifth-year senior against UNLV in hopes to get him going and for him to snap out of an early shooting funk. Mallette is an elite shooter, but has shot just 31.8% from three coming in.
That number won't go up much after Tuesday night, with Mallette going 4-of-12, but Oats would rather him go 4-of-12 every night than ever go 0-of-2 again. Mallette scored a season-high 19 points nonetheless.
Williamson still looks lost out there. He got on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws and a bucket in garbage time, but they did what they could to get him involved as much as possible. He did make a nice pass as the zone breaker in the middle when UNLV tried to change things up with a zone defensive scheme, which led to a bucket at the rim. His passing out of the high post can be something that gives the Tide's offense a new wrinkle, but he'll have to take care of the ball better. He had a team-high three turnovers, too.
3. London Jemison had his coming out party
A lot of the talk of the freshman class has been on Amari Allen, and for good reason, but London Jemison provided some good minutes for the Crimson Tide against Gonzaga on Monday. He scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in just eight minutes.
Jemison scored 18 points against UNLV, connecting on two of his three attempts from three and finishing 5-of-7 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. He also grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds and continues to show good energy on the defensive end.
It was the kind of performance that could earn him a spot in the rotation.
4. Aiden Sherrell's growth is evident
After playing 30 minutes against Gonzaga, it was fair to wonder how much Oats would be able to get out of sophomore center Aiden Sherrell on Tuesday. The 30 minutes were a career-high, and playing the second night of a back-to-back, at our pace, was a tall task for the Tide's big man.
But in 13 minutes, Sherrell gave his full energy and effort. He scored seven points, grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive), and blocked a shot.
It's clear that Sherrell put a lot of work in over the offseason to get in better shape to be able to play more minutes for Alabama this season. That work has paid off, and his performance in Vegas has shown it.