It was not a banner night for Alabama basketball as they struggled to an 80-73 win over LSU at home. The Tide struggled offensively with turnovers and got soundly beaten on the offensive glass in the first half.
The Tide and Tigers played to a 40-40 tie in the first half. Nate Oats made a major lineup shakeup to begin the second half, with Aden Holloway inserted for Mark Sears and Mo Dioubate in for Cliff Omoruyi. Sears, for reasons not yet known, did not play in the second half after a scoreless first half for the SEC's leading scorer.
Alabama led by five at the under-4 media timeout, but the Crimson Tide went on an 8-0 run that effectively put the game away, keyed by a couple of baskets by the always reliable sophomore Mo Dioubate.
The Tigers wouldn't go away, but could never get the score closer to six points after the late Alabama surge.
It wasn't pretty, but any win is a good win in this year's SEC.
3 Takeaways from Alabama's win over LSU
3. All eyes on Mark Sears
There's going to be plenty of speculation on why Sears spent the second half on the bench, but I will defer any real comment on it until after Oats speaks to the media. It will undoubtedly be the first question asked by the beat guys in the postgame.
The broadcast mentioned Sears was not injured, but he looked visibly upset on the bench as he watched the second half unfold. Houston Mallette and others kept putting their arms around him, seemingly trying to cheer him up.
It was a rough first half from Sears as he went scoreless on 0/3 shooting from the field. It wasn't an overly poor half, in my opinion, though. LSU's gameplan defensively was to take him away and he wasn't forcing bad shots. His defense was what it usually is, too.
Hopefully it isn't anything serious and Sears will be back and ready to go on Wednesday for a road trip to Mississippi State. Alabama needs him.
2. Alabama's defensive effort was outstanding
They gave up too many second-chance points off of offensive rebounds, but for the most part I thought Alabama's effort on the defensive end was really strong. The Tide held the Tigers to 33 second-half points and just 0.96 points-per-possession for the game.
Alabama held LSU to 39% shooting from the floor and just 13% shooting from three. The Tide contested everything and did an outstanding job defending the rim. Dioubate was outstanding as usual, and Omoruyi played with much better energy and effort, particularly on the glass in the second half.
This is the type of game you're going to have from time-to-time. Alabama's offense was lackluster. They turned it over too many times and only connected on 7-of-23 from three for the game. With Sears out for the second half, it was going to take a great effort on defense to win the game and that's what we got.
1. Aden Holloway came up big, again
Auburn transfer Aden Holloway continues to play at a high level. A lot was asked of him in the second half with Sears on the bench, and Holloway delivered.
While he only shot 3/8 from three, Holloway was Alabama's leading scorer with 19 points. He's shooting 51.6% from three in SEC play. He didn't get as many open looks against LSU, but he still made some big shots.
He stepped up and made some clutch free throws down the stretch, finishing 6/6 from the charity stripe.
Alabama needed a big effort from Holloway with Sears sitting in the second half and freshman Labaron Philon dealing with an ankle injury that caused him to come off the bench. As he has done for most of the season, Holloway came up big when he was needed.