No. 2/2 Alabama men's basketball team capped off its three-game home stretch with its third consecutive win of the season, following a 72-64 victory over the...
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The Crimson Tide closes out its home stretch undefeated to start the season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 2/2 Alabama men's basketball team capped off its three-game home stretch with its third consecutive win of the season, following a 72-64 victory over the McNeese State Cowboys inside Coleman Coliseum Monday night.
After giving up a 21-6 run late in the second half, the Crimson Tide were able to weather a very tough storm and hang on to claim its first win streak of the season.
Grant Nelson tallied his eighth 20-point game for Alabama with 22 points, including 8 from the charity stripe.
Mark Sears and
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. joined Nelson in double figures as the backcourt duo had 15 points apiece.
The Cowboys were led on the offensive end by Sincere Parker with 19 points off the bench, including a trio of three-pointers.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"We've played two really good mid-major teams. They've tested us on both games. I think it's going to be great for us moving forward. I'd like to see us pull away a little bit, we got up 21 on them early in the second half. I thought McNeese, got to give them a ton of credit, when we got up 21, they didn't cave, they didn't quit, they kept fighting. They ended up outrebounding us on the offensive side, they had 12 o-boards to our 10 in the first half really early on. They kept us off the o-boards in the second half and they got them. I thought they played really hard, I think it's good for our guys to go up against different types of playing styles. I thought the press with the switching everything stagnated our offense. We made one out of our last nine threes.
I thought the second half, particularly the last 14 minutes of the game, they did a really good job taking us out of what we wanted to do. I thought we played too slow. The ball ended up getting the right place at times way too late in the clock. We played down in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock way more often than we'd like to do. We knew they were going to be a good team, we knew they were going to be really athletic. Those guys are going to beat a lot of really good teams. They're picked to win their league for a reason. You got to give them a ton of credit. They made a lot of tough shots. They shot 11-of-22 on non-rim twos and most of them were pretty contested. They kind of defied the percentages there a little bit and you just have to give them a ton of credit for how hard they played and how they stayed in there."
TEAM STATS
- Monday's matchup marked the fourth overall contest between Alabama and McNeese State and the second of the millennium as the Crimson Tide improved to 4-0 over the Cowboys
- Grant Nelson led the Tide with 22 points, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and tying the season-high for Alabama players this year
- Mark Sears followed with 15 points of his own which was enough to pass Charles Cleveland for No. 29 spot on Alabama's all-time scoring list with 1,313 points
- Latrell Wrightsell Jr. tallied a season-high 15 points, scoring 12 of them in the second half alone
- Seven Crimson Tide players tallied an assist, with Sears leading both teams with 5 to himself
- Alabama shot 22-for-50 (44 percent) from the field, 11-for-34 (32 percent) from three and 17-for-24 (71 percent) from the charity stripe
