Alabama Basketball: Tide get emphatic home win over South Carolina

Tuesday night's emphatic win over South Carolina in the friendly confines of Coleman Coliseum was exactly what this Alabama basketball team needed as they continue their stretch of must-win games to start SEC play. Being able to finish games has been the Achilles heel for the Crimson Tide to this point of the season, so it was very refreshing to see how this team finished Tuesday night. After overcoming an ugly first half, Alabama turned it on in the second half and made sure there was no chance of a comeback for the Gamecocks. If this team can consistently perform like they did in the second half Tuesday night, the sky is the limit for this team.

Mark Sears continues to be the heart and soul of this team putting up 31 points on an impressive 10 of 13 shooting performance and was key in keeping the Tide within striking distance during the struggles of the first half. The rest of the team matched his energy in the 2nd half of the game turning a 1-point halftime lead into a 27-point route.

This is the defensive effort Coach Oats has been asking of his players for all season and hopefully, this will start becoming a consistent part of this Crimson Tide's DNA as they move into the heart of a very tough SEC schedule. The Tide will look to move to 3-0 in SEC play on Saturday as they head on the road to Starkville to take on the always-tough Mississippi State team.

After a sluggish start, the Alabama defense clamped down on South Carolina. After the game, Nate Oats said,

"We had multiple 4-minute battles between media timeouts where they didn’t score a point in the second half. That’s the defense we’re looking for moving forward"

- Nate Oats