Alabama Duo Turned Back the Clock

It seems like every contest there’s been a different combination of “players of the game” and that shows Alabama’s search for depth in recruits and transfers has paid off thus far. However, Saturday afternoon’s biggest standouts were Preseason All-American point guard Mark Sears and Preseason All-SEC Second Team forward Grant Nelson––the duo that led the Crimson Tide to its first-ever Final Four appearance last season.

Nelson led the way with 19 points in the first half. The 2023-24 Final Four team member didn’t have his best game against Ole Miss and took it to heart the past couple of days.

“Nelson came out ready to go at the beginning game,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during the postgame press conference. “He went 3-of-7 from the free-throw line on Tuesday night and he got in the gym and worked. We were able to make small corrections for his shot and give him some confidence by putting a bunch of work in. I think the last two days when he finished his individual workout, he went 90-of-102 (from the charity stripe) two days ago, and 91-of-100 yesterday. Got some confidence. He shot 90 percent in the game. He had 25 [points] and 11[rebounds], he was huge.”

Prior to the Ole Miss game, Sears had scored at least 20 points in the previous four games, including a 27-point performance in the Crimson Tide’s last game against then-No. 10 Texas A&M, which helped him earn the title of SEC Co-Player of the Week. Throughout Alabama’s then-eight-game win streak, Sears has scored 20 points or more in seven contests (he had 16 against Kent State). The streak ended against Ole Miss, as he turned in an 11-point performance, a subpar night just like the rest of the team.

But also like the rest of Alabama, Sears bounced back in a big way on Saturday. He Sears scored 24 points and tallied nine assists against the Wildcats. 16 of his points came in the second half, including an 8-of-9 clip from the free-throw line.

“Sears made a ton of big plays like he always does,” Oats said. “Got to the free-throw line and made some big free throws. For him to play almost 38 minutes, I thought his defensive effort was pretty good for most of the game too.”

Crimson Tide Defense Could’ve Been Better

Kentucky’s offense came into this game second in the country in efficiency and third in the country in points per game. The Wildcats typically display a wide variety of scoring options as six of their players are averaging roughly 10 or more points per game.

This proved true on Saturday as seven of the nine Wildcats who played scored in the double digits. Kentucky guards Otega Oweh and Lamont Butler each scored 13 points in the second half to finish with 21 and 17 respectively. This led to a 97-point outing––the most points allowed in a game by the Crimson Tide this season.

Kentucky was efficient shooting the basketball as it went 35-of-73 (48 percent) from the field, including a very impressive 11-of-27 from downtown. The Wildcats also converted on 16 of its 20 free-throw attempts.

Alabama showed a big improvement from last game on the offensive glass, but Kentucky still grabbed 13, which led to 20 second-chance points. The Wildcats also narrowly won the turnover battle and had more points in the paint and from the bench.

Of course, Alabama’s defense had several bright moments, as forward Mouhamed Dioubate and center Clifford Omoruyi were mostly stout in coverage. Dioubate, who led Alabama in plus-minus (21) by a good margin, also won the Hard Hat for his never-ending hustle and effort on both ends of the floor, especially defensively.

Lessons Learned From Ole Miss Loss

Saturday’s road victory came just a few days after Alabama lost 74-64 at home against Ole Miss. It was Alabama’s worst offensive performance since the 2023 Sweet 16 loss to San Diego State and Oats called it a “disgusting” effort. That said, Alabama couldn’t have bounced back much better offensively.

“Real competitors sometimes like going into a little bit more hostile environment and come out with a big win nobody expected,” Oats said. After the way we played on Tuesday, I don’t think anybody expected us to play this well, but our guys did. When we met Thursday, [I told them] ‘We are going in there and we are getting a win by any means necessary. If you’re not planning on getting a win, just pack your bag because you’re not getting on the plane.'”

In addition to Nelson and Sears, Oats commended the play in his opening statement of three-time SEC Freshman of the Week Labaron Philon, who went 3-of-5 from deep after coming into the game struggling from that area, the effort on both ends from Dioubate and the shooting performance from guard Chris Youngblood, who “had a coming out party” in the second half.

Each of these players, among others like Omoruyi, played pivotal roles in the Tide’s improvements from the Ole Miss game. Alabama had 21 turnovers on Tuesday compared to Saturday’s 10. The Tide also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds against the Wildcats compared to four against Ole Miss. The ball movement was a key factor as well as Alabama dished 20 assists while it only had 11 on Tuesday.

Alabama’s shooting was also on point as it shot 45 percent from the field, including 38 percent from behind the arc.

But no stat stood out more than the numbers from the charity stripe. Alabama has struggled from the free-throw line recently and it’s made some games closer, or in the Ole Miss case further than they should’ve been. As Oats alluded to with Nelson, the Crimson Tide as a whole worked on free throws during practice and it paid off very well against the Wildcats.

Alabama went 29-of-34 from the line and was in the bonus around the midway point of the second half. The constant aggressiveness down low forced Kentucky to foul, which displayed a ton of effort––something the Tide lacked against Ole Miss.

“Sometimes you need a loss to learn some lessons,” Oats said. “I try to study Coach Saban and football, and even look at most of his championship teams, they took a loss early. Got them focused. I think that loss got us refocused.

“This was a completely different team than the one that played against Ole Miss. If we learn the lessons we need in that loss Tuesday and we don’t forget them for the remainder of the year, it may be the best thing to happen to us. We just gotta make sure this is not a one-game deal. We’ve got to continue to do the things we’ve done since Tuesday night.”

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