Live Updates: Alabama Basketball Hosts East Tennessee State

The Crimson Tide is looking to rebound from a tough loss to Western Kentucky against the Buccaneers

Second Half

• Alabama defeats East Tennessee State, 85-69, behind Shackelford's 26 points, four rebounds, and two assists.

• Jaden drives the basket and scores. The Alabama bench just went absolutely nuts. 

• Jahvon's brother, Jaden, and the rest of the walk-ons have checked in for the Crimson Tide.

• Quinerly fouls out with 14 points, nine assists, and only one turnover.

• Make it eight. Shackelford strikes again from deep. He now has 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting from beyond-the-arc.

• Keon Ambrose-Hylton checks in and gets a dunk on the assist from Bruner. Alabama leads by 16, 78-62, with 1:55 to go.

• Sloan is open in the corner and he scores a three-pointer, but Shackelford just can't miss right now. He just netted his seventh triple of the contest.

• Jones gets the steal and goes coast-to-coast for the layup and he is fouled. He completes the three-point play. Alabama leads 73-58 at the final media timeout of the game. 3:58 to go.

• Niblack's jumper gets the Buccaneers within single digits, but Shackelford buries a long trey from the top of the key. He has a game-high 20 points.

• Shackelford responds with his fifth three of the game and Alabama calls a timeout. 67-56 UA with 6:10 on the clock.

• Two free throws and a three-pointer from Monsanto cuts Alabama's to eight, 64-56.

• Out of the timeout, Jones scores two from the line and Alabama's lead is back to 13.

• ETSU on a 4-0 run to cut the Crimson Tide's lead to 62-51 with 7:51 left.

• Quinerly scores two from the charity stripe and Alabama leads by 15, 62-47.

• Quinerly and Sloan just picked up double techs after Quinerly was fouled driving to the basket.

• Quinerly finds Gary for the easy two underneath the basket. Alabama by 12, 58-46, with 10:56 to go. Quinerly has 12 points and seven assists to go along with zero turnovers.

• Brewer strikes for a layup after the timeout but Quinerly answer with a tough jumper in the lane.

• Reese then forces a turnover on the other end and scores a dunk on the next offensive possession. Alabama up 10 at the 12:18 mark, 54-44.

• Quinerly picks up his sixth assist of the night on that three-pointer by Reese. Alabama by eight now, 52-44. 

• Ellis now has two fouls and Brewer is at the line. He sinks one of two.

• ETSU calls a timeout with 13:42 remaining. Shackelford now has 14 points and three rebounds. ETSU hasn't scored in over two minutes of action.

• Gary misses the free throw. 49-43 UA. Biggest lead of the game at the 14:23 mark. 

• After the ETSU miss, Gary hauls in the pass from Shackelford and scores a tough and-one basket. Brewer is shaken up after the play but he gingerly walks off. 

• Quinerly with nice alley-oop to Gary who finishes the layup. 47-43 UA.

• Monsanto makes the free throw. 45-43. 

• Monsanto scores the basket and he'll have a chance at a three-point play when play resumes after the timeout. 45-42 UA with 15:50 to go.

• Primo picks up his third foul on a questionable blocking foul. Looked like his feet were set and out of the restricted area.

• Jones is at the line now for the Crimson Tide and he can only make 1-of-2. This is Alabama's biggest lead of the game, 45-40. 16:10 on the clock.

• Alabama has forced back-to-back turnovers on ETSU's last two possessions.

• Great ball movement from UA on its latest possession as Shackelford nails a triple from the corner. 44-40 Alabama.

• Free-throw shooting woes are killing the Crimson Tide. Shackelford can only convert 1-of-2. Alabama is 9-of-16 from the line, but has the lead 41-40.

• Primo hits 1-of-2 from the charity stripe and its tied at 40.

• Quinerly's three-pointer helps Alabama re-take the lead, but Sloan gets a steal and a layup to put ETSU in front, 40-39.

• Alabama has the ball first and Shackelford misses a close shot around the rim, which leads to a ETSU three-pointer on the other end. Buccaneers lead 38-36.

• Both teams will roll out the same starters it started the game with.

First Half

• Shackelford leads the Crimson Tide with 10 points, while Monsanto has a game-high of 12. Alabama is shooting 12-of-29 from the field and 5-of-17 from three-point range. It also has nine turnovers compared to ETSU'S 10.

• Quinerly makes 1-of-2 and Alabama will take a 36-35 lead into intermission.

• Quinerly attacks the basket out of the timeout and gets a blocking foul called on Patterson. He'll shoot two.

• However, Monsanto hits again from deep. 35-35 with 20 seconds remaining.

• Quinerly throws it out to Ellis who slams it home for two. That will get the small crowd in Coleman fired up.

• Oats is called for a technical foul after chirping with the officials. Sloan sinks both foul shots. 33-32 UA with 1:14 on the clock.

• Brewer bullies his way into the lane for the tough two-point shot. 33-30 UA.

• Monsanto and Ellis trade three-point baskets causing ETSU to call a timeout. 33-28 Alabama with 2:49 left.

• Two free throws from Bruner extend the Crimson Tide's lead to five, 30-25.

• Reese gets the offensive rebound and scores the layup to give Alabama a three-point lead at the final break of the half. 28-25 Crimson Tide with 3:25 to go.

• Shackelford and Niblack trade three-pointers. 24-22 Alabama with 4:40 left.

• Quinerly heads to the free-throw line. He makes both shots and Alabama back out in front, 21-20.

• Primo re-enters for Miles.

• Quinerly finishes at the rim for the easy two and it's 20-19. ETSU has four turnovers in the last four minutes.

• Darius Miles has entered the game for Alabama.

• Out of the break, Shackelford misses the front end of a one-and-one, which leads to a three-pointer from Monsanto to give ETSU a 20-17 lead.

• Bruner is leading the Crimson Tide in rebounds with five.

• Alabama missed its last five shots from the field, while ETSU hasn't scored in over two minutes of action. It's still 17-17 at the under-8 minute media timeout. 7:47 remaining. 

• Jones is called for a charge and that's his second foul of the game with 8:14 on the clock. Gary is coming in for him. Primo also has two fouls.

• Brewer picks up his second foul pretty quickly on a shot attempt from Bruner. He is shooting two. Bruner sinks one of two and it's tied at 17. 

• Brewer is called for an offensive foul and Alabama is now in the bonus. 

• Sloan scores two from the free-throw line and ETSU has the lead again, 17-16.

• Brewer answers with a floater and its back to a one-point game, 16-15.

• Ellis gets a putback layup and stops a scoring drought for Alabama that last 2:25 minutes of action. 16-13 UA.

• The Crimson Tide forces another turnover leading to Gary being fouled on the other end of the floor. He misses both free throws.

• Adheke turns it over, but Gary is called for a charge on Alabama's offensive end on the fastbreak.

• At the under-12 minute media timeout, Alabama owns a 14-13 advantage. 11:53 on the clock. Shackelford leads the team with seven points. 

• Juwan Gary makes his first appearance of the night at the 13:23 mark and Primo has re-entered the contest.

• Shackelford is at the charity stripe and he only makes one of two. 

• Smith misses a mid-range jumper coming out of the break while Shackelford hits home another three and Alabama has the lead, 11-9.

• Alex Reese has checked into the game.

• Alabama is 3-of-6 from the field to start tonight's action, including making 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, while ETSU is 4-of-8.

• Keon Ellis was the Crimson Tide's first sub of the game. Alabama trails 9-8 at the first media timeout. 15:31 to go. 

• Adheke is called for an offensive foul then Bruner comes down and nails a three-pointer form the right wing. 9-8 ETSU. 

• Quinerly stops the bleeding with a nice driving layup to make it 9-5. 

• Brewer buries a triple from the wing, 9-3 ETSU.

• Primo is called for an offensive foul and that's his third turnover of the night.

• After a missed basket at the rim from Jones, Brewer scores the layup and it's 6-3.

• Back-to-back baskets from the Buccaneers have them up 4-3.  

• Shackelford opens the scoring for Alabama with a three-pointer from the corner.

• Monsanto misses a three-point then Primo turns it over on the other end.

• ETSU wins the tip.

Pregame

• Tonight's officials are Tony Greene, Todd Austin, and Darron George.

• It is Primo's first start of his career.

• John Petty Jr. and James Rojas will not play tonight per Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News. It is not injury related.

• East Tennessee State: Silas Adheke, David Sloan, Damari Monsanto, Vonnie Patterson, LeDarrius Brewer.

• Alabama: Herb Jones, Jahvon Quinerly, Jaden Shackelford, Josh Primo, and Jordan Bruner

Game Preview 

Alabama head coach Nate Oats has been hinting at some lineup changes with the Crimson Tide basketball team, which is off to a 4-3 start.

He'll have one final game to decide before Southeastern Conference play begins next week.

Tuesday night, Alabama will close the December non-conference part of the regular season, everything but the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January, when it hosts East Tennessee State at Coleman Coliseum.

The team will then break for Christmas, and host Ole Miss on Jan. 29.

"We have not played well through the early part of the season to be honest with you," he said after Alabama's loss to Western Kentucky on Saturday. "We have struggled a lot. 

"We have to get our culture right and bring the effort it takes to win on game-by-game basis because it can’t come every other game.”

Adding to the urgency is that Alabama's next five opponents are a combined 21-7 (.750).

East Tennessee State at Alabama

When: 6:30 p.m., Tuesday

Where: Coleman Coliseum

TV/Online: SEC Network+ (Play-By-Play: Eli Gold, Analyst: Trevor Releford)

Radio: (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Bryan Passink, Sideline: Roger Hoover) Sirius/XM Channel: NA/382

Series: Alabama leads 3-0

Last meeting: This is the first meeting since Dec. 1, 2004 when UA picked up a 114-77 victory, the second-highest scoring total in program history. 

Last time out: Alabama lost its first home game of the season to Western Kentucky, 73-71. The Crimson Tide held a 70-67 lead with just over two minutes left to play, however, the Hilltoppers subsequently outscored UA 6-1 to secure the win.

East Tennessee State last time out: The Buccaneers (4-3) capped a four-game homestand with a 62-53 victory over Lee University last Saturday.

Tournament resume: According to KenPom.com, Alabama’s strength of schedule ranks No. 55 in the non-conference which is fourth-best among all SEC teams. The seven teams the Tide has faced owns a combined record of 34-16 (.680). When totaling together the first 12 teams on Alabama’s schedule, opponents own a total record of 55-23 (.705). Furthermore, five of the opening 12 opponents are ranked in the Ken Pomeroy top-40 RPI, while nine are among the top-80 (all numbers as of 12/21).

Scouting East Tennessee State: Guard Ledarrius Brewer is averaging 15.1 points, while guard David Sloan is second at 9.3 and tops the Bucs in assists (4.0) and three-point shooting (50.0 percent, 9-of-18). As a team, the Buccaneers hold the opposition to 58.9 points per game and just 35.8 percent shooting (34.2 percent from deep). ETSU returned three plays from last year’s team that finished 30-4 and won both the SoCon regular season and tournament titles. The 11 newcomers on the roster is tied for the second-most among NCAA Division I teams (Arkansas brought in 12). Head coach Jason Shay is in his first season as a Division I head coach.

Scouting the Crimson Tide: Starting guards Jaden Shackelford (12.3 points per game), John Petty Jr. (12.0) and Jahvon Quinerly (11.4) have combined to average 35.7 of the Tide’s 75.6 points per game average – approximately 47 percent of the team’s total output.

Record watch: Petty Jr. has made a team-leading 13 three-pointers on the year, pushing his career total to 247 made threes. He now needs only 17 more treys to become the program’s all-time leader (Brian Williams, 1996-99, 263). His 652 career attempts from deep is 87 shy of breaking Williams’ program record of 738.