Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Jackson State
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It wasn't necessarily pretty, but Alabama basketball got its 10th win of the season on Tuesday night over the Jackson State Tigers by a final score of 84-64.
The game was somewhat of a roller coaster with lots of highs and lows, so here are a few of my takeaways from the game:
1. The entire team looked sluggish from the opening tip.
This was a frustrating reality for Alabama fans watching the game, as many expected the Crimson Tide to come out hot and prove it was the superior team against the 1-10 Jackson State Tigers.
But, for whatever reason, Alabama came out flat as could be. The energy was lacking, the play looked lackadaisical, and this carried over into halftime with Jackson State holding a one-point advantage just after the halftime break.
There are a number of things you could attribute this to, firstly being the fact that head coach Nate Oats spoke earlier this week about the team dealing with an illness going around, which even caused starter Noah Clowney to miss the game entirely. On top of that, it was Alabama's first game in two and half weeks against an opponent outside of the top-30 in KenPom.
Alabama has faced a grueling schedule so far and, let's face it, didn't bring its A-game against a lesser team in the game before Christmas break and the final game before SEC play.
Last night, you can let it slide because it still resulted in a 20-point victory. In the future, though, Alabama won't be able to get away with slow starts like that.
I don't anticipate that being an issue in the future, though.
2. Jahvon Quinerly had his best game in weeks.
Perhaps somewhat lost in the sluggish nature of the game was how well Jahvon Quinerly performed last night.
It's no secret that Quinerly had been struggling a little since returning in record time from his torn ACL. He hadn't played a particularly good game since the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon almost a month ago. Oats even spoke after the Gonzaga game that it seemed like he had lost some confidence in his own game.
All that changed last night as Quinerly came off the bench and looked more ready to play than the majority of the Alabama team. He scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor and dished out five assists in the victory, but the stats weren't the most important aspect of his game that I saw.
I saw Quinerly look like his old self driving to the basket. He finished an and-one, slithered through multiple defenders on the way to a layup, and even threw a slick behind-the-back pass to Charles Bediako while drawing multiple defenders due to his finishing threat.
Quinerly's biggest asset to Alabama's team is his driving ability. When he can blow by defenders at the rate and level we've seen him to before, it sucks in opponents' interior defense and makes it much easier for Alabama to spread the floor and find open look after open look.
Quinerly's performance against Jackson State was a very important step in the right direction to get him going again, and it will be exciting to watch him build off it.
3. Nick Pringle looked the best he's looked all year.
Nick Pringle hasn't played a whole lot this season after transferring in from Dodge City Community College, but every time it has it feels like he's made the most of his minutes.
Last night Oats inserted Pringle into the lineup early in the game as part of the first wave of substitutions and, like Quinerly, played with more energy than every other Alabama player we'd seen thus far.
Pringle had the best game of his Crimson Tide career, posting 14 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and adding four points from the free throw line. He is undoubtedly the most athletic player on the Alabama team and against a smaller opponent like Jackson State he was able to showcase his physicality and dominate underneath grabbing nine rebounds in the game as well.
Alabama has exceptional depth down low this season with Bediako, Clowney and Noah Gurley all playing significant minutes, but Pringle's development gives Oats yet another body to use down low whether the starters get into foul trouble or as a substitution for energy purposes alone.
Every time Pringle is on the floor it seems like he's playing his hardest, and that's the exact kind of player that Oats, and all coaches, love to have on their team.
4. Alabama ended the game the right way.
The first half was rough, we already talked about that.
Early in the second half Alabama took the lead back and extended it to seven or eight points, but could never stretch the lead higher than 10 or 12 until the very end of the game.
After the under-4 media timeout, Alabama outscored the Tigers 13-4 over the last 3:25 of the game. The Crimson Tide truly looked sharp for the first time all game, executing crisp passes and stellar defense in consecutive sequences and ending the game on a high note.
It may not mean much other than morale, but ending a sluggish game on a positive note and still winning by 20 is a good feeling for the team entering a few-day break.
5. A few more things...
- Turnovers are still a problem. 17 is less than the 20+ against Gonzaga, but Oats ideally wants that number down to 12 or 13, or better.
- Noah Gurley looked really comfortable driving into the lane and posting up. He finished with 14 points, a season-high for him.
- Brandon Miller played pretty passively, but still put up a very impressive stat line of 10 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
- A few different players on the team, specifically Quinerly, Bradley and Miller, made some really impressive passes throughout the course of the game. That says a lot about the team's chemistry levels.
- Mo Williams got a lot of love from the crowd in his return to Coleman Coliseum, and even spoke postgame about how much it meant to him to be back.
See also:
Alabama Pulls Away from Jackson State after Sloppy Start
BamaCentral Courtside: No. 9 Alabama 84, Jackson State 64
Uninspiring Efforts Cannot Become the New Normal for Alabama Basketball
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