After Second-Half Breakdown, Alabama Regroups to Rout South Carolina
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- With March and the postseason fast approaching, Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats still has questions about his team. There is some concern with defensive intensity at times, and 3-point shooting is streaky.
For one half, those issues faded away as the Crimson Tide built a 23-point lead over South Carolina on Saturday. It looked like Alabama found something it lost a long time ago – swagger.
But those questions and concerns came roaring back to life in the second half, as Alabama’s seemingly insurmountable lead dwindled to six points.
In the end, Alabama dug deep, regrouped and came out with a 90-71 win.
It’s these types of issues -- lack of intensity, lackluster defense, poor shooting, turnovers – that leave basketball experts perplexed. This Crimson Tide team can play lights out and beat the likes of Baylor, Gonzaga and Houston, but lose to Georgia and struggle against South Carolina.
Leading 50-27 to start the second half, Alabama didn’t hit its first field goal until the 12-minute mark, scoring six points on free throws. During that stretch, the Gamecocks went on a 20-6 run.
The turning point came a minute later after a media timeout.
Afterwards, it was just like the first half with Alabama making 3-pointers, grabbing loose balls and rebounds, and playing with swagger. The Crimson Tide got the lead back to double digits and eventually went ahead by 25 to ice the game and get some bench players playing time on senior day.
"We knew they were going to have their run," Alabama guard Keon Ellis said. "We just had to overcome that and not let it affect us, and just know that we would break through."
Alabama got 3-pointers from Ellis, Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly to get the offense back on point, and got some big rebounds from JD Davison.
"After they cut the lead to six after we were up by 23, we showed some maturity and came out and got some stops, got some buckets, and showed some real maturity," Oats said.
Despite the persistent issues, Oats doesn’t have to worry about Jahvon Quinerly. Coming off a 19-point effort against Vanderbilt, Quinerly lit up the nets with 20 points and five assists. Quinerly was 3-for-3 from 3-point range last week against Vanderbilt and finished 4-for-5 Saturday.
"We know what kind of shooter he is," Ellis said. "His confidence is up, you can kind of see it when he's on the court. It's good to see him playing at this level going into March."
Quinerly, the Crimson Tide’s second-leading scorer, connected on his first 3-point attempt and stayed hot to set the tone for the Crimson Tide offense, which was 47% shooting and 39% from 3-point range.
"We know he's got it, he's done it in practice. He just needed to relax," Oats said of Quinerly. "He puts a lot of pressure on himself. I think he's getting back to where his mind is right, and he's playing hard."
Jaden Shackelford was the leading scorer, hitting four 3-pointers and finishing with 21 points. Keon Ellis hit for 17 points and was 4 of 9 on 3-pointers. He also had seven rebounds. Charles Bediako had 11 and JD Davison had 10.
As far as concerns with defensive intensity, a sore spot for Oats throughout this inconsistent season, it wasn’t an issue in the first half Saturday. Alabama pressured and frustrated the Gamecocks with aggressive defense to force turnovers and bad shots.
By the three-minute mark of the first half, Alabama had the game well in hand, thanks in part to a 12-0 run. Alabama led 50-27 at the half with Quinerley in the books with 18 points, three assists and four 3-pointers.
The first half was the kind of showing Oats is used to seeing, or at least last season. The Crimson Tide shot just over 50% from the field (15 of 29) and 50% from 3-point range (9 of 18).
For the game, the Crimson Tide scored 24 points of turnovers to South Carolina's 10, and outscored the Gamecocks 32-22 in the paint.
Alabama (19-10, 9-7 SEC) has its regular-season home finale Wednesday against Texas A&M. Tipoff is 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
