It wasn’t easy. It took nearly three hours thanks to some active referees. But Alabama men’s basketball scored a huge road win Saturday at Texas A&M, beating the No. 10 Aggies 94-88.

Mark Sears led the way for the Crimson Tide, finishing with a team-leading 27 points. Clifford Omoruyi led with 10 rebounds, despite an ankle injury that saw him temporarily head to the locker room before returning.

The win moved the Crimson Tide to 14-2 on the season, 3-0 in SEC play. Alabama will be back in action Tuesday, against Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa.

Before that, here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.

Successful road trip

With the SEC as good as it is for the 2024-25 season, road wins will be at a premium. The Crimson Tide was expected to win its league road opener against South Carolina Wednesday, and it did, but Texas A&M was a different animal.

The Aggies entered the game No. 10 in the nation, playing a nearly opposite style to Alabama. While Nate Oats runs one of the nation’s top offenses, Buzz Williams’ hallmark is tough defense.

Texas A&M was also lacking perhaps its best player, with Wade Taylor IV injured. The first top 10 matchup in the history of Reed Arena would be a winnable one for the Tide.

Alabama got off to a few big leads, at one point going up 15 points in the second half. But TAMU came roaring back, cutting the deficit to three late in the half.

However, the Tide proved its mettle late, making the needed free throws to escape 2-0 in SEC road play.

Rock fight

Even Oats thought the game, which was scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. CT and ended around 9:55 p.m., was a little long.

“Not a real smooth game,” Oats said. “Took about three hours. I looked at my watch when we got done, it was almost 10 o’clock. People expect three hours from a football game, not a basketball game, so it is what it is. You keep fouling, they’re gonna keep calling them.

Alabama had 31 total fouls throughout the game, with Texas A&M adding another 27. The game was physical in the paint, with neither team willing to give an inch down low.

The officials also went to the monitor multiple times, stretching the game time even longer. Oats remarked on the fouls after the game.

“We don’t usually foul that much,” Oats said. “I’ll have to go back and look at the film to see. These guys play hard, physical, they run to the O-boards.”

Regardless, he was happy with how the Tide handled the game.

“This is a game, if you’re planning on winning the league– we’re trying to do that, we’ve won it multiple times since I’ve been here– you gotta go on the road and win these tough games,” Oats said. “You’re up 15, you can’t let that then slip away.”

Shaking off the rust

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. is out for the season. Houston Mallette might seek a medical redshirt after originally opting to burn his this year to try and replace Wrightsell’s shooting touch.

Alabama hasn’t been hitting threes at the clip it expected to before the season. On Saturday, Chris Youngblood finally got cooking from deep.

Youngblood missed the start of the season with an injury, and had obviously been shaking off rust as he transitioned into the lineup. On Saturday, he went 3-for-6 from three-point range, finishing the game with 14 points.

Oats was excited by the effort after the game.

“He shoots at a really high clip,” Oats said of Youngblood. “He just had to get off that surgery and get himself back comfortable. I told him he was gonna be able to get some shots this game.”