Alabama basketball shot 6/31 from three and missed 16 free throws, but managed to hold off a good Arkansas State team 88-79.
Mark Sears and Latrell Wrightsell are two of the best and most experienced three point shooters in college basketball. They combined to shoot 1/14 from downtown. Sears was 0/5 and Wrightsell was 1/9. I'd bet good money neither have this kind of shooting night the rest of the year.
Sears also missed five free throws but still finished with 19 points to lead the way for Alabama thanks to his ability to get to the rim and finish.
Grant Nelson, Cliff Omoruyi, Labaron Philon, and Derrion Reid also finished in double figures scoring.
3 takeaways from the Alabama win
3. Arkansas State is a good team
I'm sure fans who didn't watch the game and just perused the box score will be shocked by the closer than expected final margin. Alabama was a 20+ point favorite at home. But the Red Wolves are coached by former Nate Oats assistant Bryan Hodgson and they are the preseason Sun Belt favorite.
Most likely, Arkansas State was the first in a long line of tournament teams Alabama is going to face in non-conference play. This being a tight game is good for the Crimson Tide. It shows them they have to show up every night and grind to win basketball games. Oats schedules tough opponents for a reason; there aren't many gimmes on this schedule.
The Red Wolves were physical at the point of attack and did well to disrupt the offensive flow, particularly in the first half.
2. Alabama's defense carried them down the stretch
The game was tied at 68 with just under seven minutes to play. Alabama's offense was struggling, consistently missing long-distance shots and laboring to get anything going. The game was going to come down to the defense end.
Interestingly enough, Oats chose to go small down the stretch and Omoruyi was on the bench. Grant Nelson played the five with Derrion Reid at the four, and Sears, Wrightsell, and Philon in the backcourt.
Alabama went on an 11-2 run that effectively shut the door on Arkansas State over the next three minutes. They swarmed defensively, switched every pick-and-roll, and contested every single shot. They got out and ran in transition and got some easy buckets at the rim, a must when things weren't falling from anywhere else.
1. In basketball, it's process over results. Always.
One bad shooting night doesn't mean Oats needs to reinvent the wheel in Tuscaloosa. Alabama had plenty of quality offensive possessions and 90% of the threes they took were good, in-rhythm shots. They just didn't go in. That's basketball.
The good news is that Alabama's effort was still good. They didn't let the missed shots take them out of the game. I didn't notice any player giving low effort or with their head down letting all the missed shots impact them in a negative way.
Even prolific shooting teams like the one this one projects to be will have off nights. It's good to see in the early going that Alabama can find a way to win when the outside shots aren't falling against a quality opponent.