There's been obvious chinks in the armor for Alabama basketball's offense this season. In Tuesday night's loss to Ole Miss, the armor was completely ripped away. Alabama scored a season-low 64 points and broke a streak of 53 consecutive games of scoring 70+ points.
It was Alabama's lowest point total since losing in the Sweet 16 to San Diego State two years ago, which is probably the last time the offense looked as bad as it did last night.
Alabama's struggles to shoot the ball are nothing new. On the season, Alabama ranks 241st in the country in shooting just 32% from three. The Tide was just 5/20 (25%) against the Rebels. They have overcome poor shooting all season by dominating the offensive glass, but they managed just four offensive rebounds on Tuesday night and its inability to make shots was highlighted as a result.
Alabama's shooting struggles are a mystery. On paper, there's no reason the Crimson Tide should be shooting this poorly. Aden Holloway is creeping close to 40%, but everyone else is at 35% or below, including two guys in Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood who are career 40%+ shooters from distance.
With Latrell Wrightsell out with a season-ending injury and Houston Mallette potentially also, Alabama has a dearth of reliable three-point shooters on the roster. Holloway, Sears, and Youngblood should be enough, but not with the struggles Sears and Youngblood have had so far this season.
Asked after the game whether he was concerned about the direction of the offense, Oats didn't sugarcoat it:
" I think we should all be pretty concerned to be honest with you," said Oats.
Alabama suffered one of the bigger single game offensive efficiency drops I've ever seen on KenPom. Coming into the Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide was the No. 2 offense in the country. It fell all the way down to 9th in the aftermath.
Alabama came into the game 11th in offensive rebounding rate. They dropped to 20th after the loss and poor effort on the glass. It has been the Tide's ability to rebound at such a high rate that has kept the offense humming along despite the struggles to consistently make threes.
Shots either go in or they don't. Basketball can be a fickle sport and Alabama is far from the first contender to lose a game they shouldn't have. Last year, UConn lost by 15 on the road to Seton Hall. The year before, the Huskies lost six of eight games including a double-digit home loss to St. John's.
As frustrating as this loss was, and as quick as some will be to write this team off as a result, it isn't the end of the world. It might ultimately be the wake-up call this team needed to show that they can't take the little things for granted. They have to win on Blue-Collar points and in the margins because they aren't a good enough shooting team to make up for it.
"I think we'll figure it out," said Oats. "We'll spend a lot of time evaluating this one. We're definitely going to have to get back to getting the offensive boards."