Alabama basketball has been prone to slow offensive starts this season. It was magnified in Saturday afternoon's loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl of Basketball.
The Tigers scored the game's first nine points, opening up a 9-0 lead. Alabama's first points came off of a pair of Grant Nelson free throws at the 17:44 mark of the first half. But spotting a team of Auburn's caliber a quick nine-point lead is tough to overcome.
After scoring the first nine points of the game, Alabama and Auburn played the final 37:44 of game time to an 85-85 tie.
Slow starts for the Crimson Tide offensively are nothing new. They trailed 11-5 early against Mississippi State, 7-2 against Kentucky, and 7-4 against Ole Miss in the first few minutes of action of those games.
Nate Oats has consistently started a lineup consisting of three bigs. Cliff Omoruyi at center, Grant Nelson at the four, and Jarin Stevenson at the three. It gives Alabama a little more versatility defensively and Stevenson can guard multiple positions, but Alabama's offense hasn't been good enough in those early minutes.
Jarin Stevenson had a breakout against Texas, scoring 22 points and connecting on 4-of-5 from three point range, but overall this season has been a struggle for him on the offensive end although his three-point shooting has been much improved after an 0-of-18 start to the season.
Along with the three bigs, Oats has started Mark Sears and typically either Labaron Philon or Chris Youngblood alongside Sears in the backcourt. Early in the year, it was Philon, but Youngblood has been starting the last couple of weeks.
Alabama can ill-afford slow starts moving forward. Not with the caliber of competition it will face over the final six regular season games.
With the lineup that has been starting recently, too much is on Sears' plate as the only offensive initiator. When Philon was in the lineup instead of Youngblood, it left Sears as the only real shooter on the floor, especially with Stevenson's early season shooting struggles.
The obvious solution is to bring Stevenson off of the bench. He can still play a role on this team, but adding either Philon or Holloway into the starting lineup will give Alabama more of an offensive punch. It also takes some off Sears' plate as the only offensive initiator. Both Philon and Holloway can run the offense, get to the rim, and pass to open shooters or to cutters attacking the basket.
Alabama needs to find as many minutes as they can with three of their four guards on the floor. Obviously, it's going to sacrifice some defensive versatility. Stevenson is a better defender than any of the guards and his size and length makes him a matchup problem. But it's not like Stevenson's inclusion has made the Tide a Top 5 defense in the country, either. The defensive reward of playing him in the big lineups to open the game does not outweigh what Alabama loses on offense.
Oats is unafraid of making difficult decisions. He benched Sears for the second half of the win over LSU a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see if he's willing to do what is necessary for the Crimson Tide to have the best path to success down the stretch.