Alabama Basketball: Tide rolls over LSU at home

Alabama Basketball has been one of the most incendiary offensive teams in college basketball all season, and the Tide caught fire against LSU on Saturday night en route to a 109-88 win. 

Alabama scored 50 first half points against the Tigers, and then outdid itself by scoring 59 points after the intermission. It hit the century mark for the sixth time this season, and has scored 93 points or more in nine of its 20 games. This was the first time Alabama Basketball hit 100 points against an SEC opponent this season. 

For the game, Bama shot over 55 percent from the field and hit 14 three-pointers, shooting at a 41 percent clip from outside. This wasn’t just an offensive onslaught either; Alabama held LSU to 42 percent from the field and outrebounded the Tigers 42-33. 

Despite going 0-5 from downtown, senior guard Mark Sears found other ways to score and led the Tide with 21 points and five assists. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (19 points, 5-10 from three) and Rylan Griffen (12 points, 4-6 from three) continued their barrage from the perimeter. 

Aaron Estrada had one of his best games of the season, posting 18 points and team-highs of six rebounds and seven assists. Fellow transfer Grant Nelson added an efficient 12 points for the Tide, while freshmen Sam Walters, Jarin Stevenson, and Davin Cosby each hit a three off the bench for Alabama Basketball.

Coach Nate Oats chose to go small and young in the frontcourt, and it seemingly paid dividends. Senior Nick Pringle and West Virginia transfer Mo Wague have split time at the center position, but the two bigs hardly saw the floor in this game.

Alabama essentially started four guards with Grant Nelson playing the five, and proved to be very tough to defend. When it needed size off the bench, it turned to a pair of freshmen in Stevenson and Mo Dioubate.

Coach Oats’ lineup combinations stressed the LSU defense all night, as Stevenson and Dioubate are quicker and more perimeter-oriented than Pringle and Wague. It will be interesting to see if this is a permanent change to the rotation. 

Alabama Basketball will go on the road to play Georgia on Wednesday evening before returning to Tuscaloosa to host Mississippi State on Saturday night. The Tide is in first place in the SEC and will look to keep it rolling this week.