| MBB/WBB No. 11/14 Alabama Remains Unbeaten at Home, Defeating South Dakota State
- Thread starter Brandon Van de Graaff
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Yep and I believe it is in Houston which makes it even tougher. This is probably a stretch where we are going to drop a few but hopefully it pays off in the end. Maybe steel one or two they are not expected to win.
Speaking of Bama playing at Houston... was looking at some other SEC pre-conference schedules today.... some really embarrassing ones out there, including auburn. Really glad Nate Oats isn't afraid to challenge the guys early and often. Almost an anyone, anywhere mentality.
No. 11/14 Alabama Remains Unbeaten at Home, Defeating South Dakota State - University of Alabama Athletics
The No. 11/14 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team earned a 78-65 win over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits.
rolltide.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 11/14 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team earned a 78-65 win over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Friday night in Coleman Coliseum. The Tide is now 6-1 on the season and 3-0 at home.
Noah Clowney had his first career 20-point game, posting 22 to lead all scorers. The freshman was on fire to start the game, scoring the Tide's first 12 points of the game with four three-pointers in the first four minutes of the game. Along with Clowney, Mark Sears and Brandon Miller both scored in double digits to lead the Tide to the win.
The Tide jumped out against South Dakota State early, establishing a 21-8 lead by the second media timeout. Alabama got hot from the three-point line, making nine from beyond the arc in the first half. South Dakota State went on an 18-5 run to close the gap at the end of the first half, cutting Alabama's lead to single digits (42-35) at the break. After South Dakota State went on a run to take its first lead of the game with 11:33 remaining, Alabama closed out the half on a 24-12 run to retake control of the game and close out the win.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"It was a good win. We honestly didn't play as well as we would like for the middle part of the game. I thought the last, maybe, eight minutes of the first half and first eight minutes of the second half weren't what we wanted, but I think we showed some character once we got down by one. We were able to grind some stops out and get the lead back and extend the lead. Obviously, starting the game making threes like we did helped. They looked like their game plan was to leave Clowney open and he made them pay, hitting four in a row to start the game out. They continued to leave him open, and it may have worked a little bit there. I think he started 4 of 5 and finished one for his last seven, but 5 of 12 makes for a pretty good night. We know he can make them. He's made them in practice and we recruited him as a shooter. He shot pretty well in high school. Hopefully this will get his confidence going to where he can stretch the floor that way a little bit. Some guys struggled, and to me it looked like we still weren't back to 100%. We were still hungover from our West Coast trip to be honest with you, outside of a couple of guys. Mark Sears ended a run where he hit three straight threes. He shot pretty well tonight, while some other guys didn't shoot very well. We're going to give our guys some rest after the game. They normally lift after the game, and there's no lift tonight. We'll give them tomorrow off and hopefully get their legs under them. We've got a tough stretch here coming up. Houston is the No. 1 team in the country, and Memphis is also super talented and they got us last year. Gonzaga is Gonzaga, and we've got them back-to-back-to-back. We've got to get the guys healthy and get their legs under them. I'll give South Dakota State a ton of credit. They played last night at Kent State and for them to come in here and get down 20 In the first half and for them to fight the way back in and take a lead on us. They're a team that's got a chance to win their league. They won last year. I think this will end up being a quality win for us at the end of the year. It's good to get the win. We could have easily got down one, and let the whole thing go in the wrong direction. I thought the guys stepped up and got some stops when we needed to."TEAM STATS
- Noah Clowney had his first career 20-point game, making 5 of 12 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 22
- Mark Sears eclipsed the 1,000 career points mark in the matchup, coring 16 points against SDSU while passing the benchmark
- Clowney and Brandon Miller both pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds, leading the Tide to a 45-37 rebounding advantage over the Jackrabbits
- Jahvon Quinerly totaled seven assists, the most by any player in the matchup
FIRST HALF
- Alabama shot 43 percent (9-21) from three-point range, led by Clowney's four three-pointers
- The Tide duo of Clowney (14 points) and Mark Sears (12 points) led the way scoring 26 of the Tide's 42 points
- Alabama out-rebounded South Dakota State 22-15
- South Dakota State shot 46 percent (14-30) from the field led by Charlie Easley with 11 points
SECOND HALF
- Miller scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, leading the Tide in scoring during the period and getting the scoring started with an early three
- South Dakota State cut Alabama's lead to three points (45-42) with just under 18 minutes left in the game
- Both teams hit a scoring drought midway through the half as Alabama's hit over five minutes and South Dakota did not score for over four minutes, before the Jackrabbits went on a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the half (51-50) with 11:33 left in the game
- Alabama was able to retake control of the game over the final ten minutes, using a 24-12 run to close out the win
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