No. 18 Alabama Dominates Jacksonville State on Way to 104-62 Win

The Crimson Tide sunk 21 shots from beyond the arc in the blowout victory.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — They say shooting is contagious, and it certainly was for Alabama basketball Friday night.

The Crimson Tide hit 21 3-pointers on the way to a 104-62 win over Jacksonville State inside Coleman Coliseum.

Both teams couldn’t miss early on, but the Gamecocks started to cool off late in the first half. Cooling down never came for the Crimson Tide. After making 12 3-pointers in the first half, Alabama picked up where it left off to open the second half with another 3-pointer for Nimari Burnett. 

Alabama head coach Nate Oats said they challenged the defense to play better in the second half, and he was pleased with the response. 

"We talked to our guys about not playing to the scoreboard," Oats said after the game. "We didn’t care what the score was, we were going to play every possession. I thought we did a pretty good job of that. I thought our guys stayed pretty locked in."

Just one example to display Alabama’s dominance in the second half, after the break, Jacksonville State scored 23 points, and Brandon Miller scored 20 alone for the Crimson Tide.

Miller finished with a game high and season high in his young career with 28 points. He shot 9-of-12 from the floor and 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. Burnett had his best game in an Alabama uniform, finishing in double-digits for the first time with 18 points. Mark Sears also had 18 for Alabama. 

In just his second game back from the ACL injury, Jahvon Quinerly had six points and eight assists in seven minutes of action. The ball was moving well all night for the Crimson Tide with 23 assists on 34 made shots.

Even the walk-ons got in on the fun at the end with Jaden Quinerly’s free throw sending Alabama over the century mark, and Adam Cottrell and Delaney Heard scoring their first baskets of the season.

Alabama improved to 4-0 with the win, and will have a little bit of a break before taking on Michigan State in the Phil Knight Invitational Thursday at 9:30 p.m.

"All in all, a great win," Oats said. "It’s good to be at 4-0 heading into the stretch we have next week. It’s going to be a pretty tough stretch there with the teams we see out in Portland. We needed this win to be there before we headed out to Portland."

How it happened... 

Live Updates

(latest updates at the top)

Second Half

FINAL: No. 18 Alabama 104, Jacksonville State 62

• 1:31- Jaden Quinerly hits a free throw to send Alabama over the century mark. Crimson Tide up 100-58. 

• 1:59- It's walk-on time in Coleman Coliseum. Four of Alabama's walk-ons check into the game with the Crimson Tide up 98-55. 

• 3:28- At the final media break, Alabama leads 93-55. 

• 7:08- Alabama is up 87-53 at the under-8 timeout. Burnett has hit the latest 3-pointer for the Crimson Tide. They have now hit 21 in the game, two away from tying the program record. 

• 9:16- Nick Pringle checks in for the first time for Alabama, 84-53 Crimson Tide

• Make that seven 3-pointers for Miller. 82-50 Alabama

• 11:39- Miller is fouled on another 3-point make heading into the under-12 timeout, his sixth of the game and 19th for the team. Alabama 78, JSU 50
• Miller is up to 24 points, 16 of which have come in these first nine minutes of the second half

• Quinerly hits another shot, and the crowd at Coleman Coliseum is on its feet after a timeout from Jacksonville State. Crimson Tide is up 70-48 over the Gamecocks. 8-0 run for Alabama over the last 1:11. 

• 15:18- Quinerly hits a 3-pointer, his first basket since returning from the ACL injury. Alabama leads 65-48. 

• 15:42- Alabama leads 62-48 at the under-16 timeout. Miller has hit two 3-pointers early in the second half and is now up to 14 points for the game. 

• 17:54- Miller hits a 3-pointer to make it 58-42. Alabama has now made 14 shots from deep in this game. 

• Alabama picks up right where it left off. Nimari Burnett hits a 3-pointer to open the half for the Crimson Tide. Alabama leads Jacksonville State 54-39. 

Halftime Notes

• Mark Sears had 16 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting from 3. Sears had a plus-18 in plus/minus from the first half. 
• While he didn't score in the first half, Jahvon Quinerly had five assists and zero turnovers in seven minutes of action. 
• The Crimson Tide made more 3-pointers in the first half (12) than it had total in any full game so far this season. 
• The Gamecocks also shot well, 50 percent from behind the arc. 

First Half

HALFTIME: Alabama 51, Jacksonville State 39

• 1:06- Bradley banks it in for Alabama's first field goal in four minutes of game time. Crimson Tide leads 46-39

• 3:38- Miller shoots Alabama's first free throws of the game (and hits both of them.) Crimson Tide leads 43-35.

• 3:59- Alabama still leads 41-33 at the under-4 timeout. Mark Sears leads all scorers with 11. 

• After the latest 3-pointer from Rylan Griffen, Alabama is now shooting 11-of-19 from deep. Crimson Tide leads 41-33 with 4:30 to go in the first half. 

• 7:04- Alabama leads 35-28 at the under-8 timeout. Alabama is a scalding hot 9-of-14 from beyond the arc. 

• Folks, Alabama cannot miss right now. Sears hits another 3-pointer on an offensive rebound from Clowney as Alabama extends the lead to 32-26.  

• 8:45- Bradley goes coast to coast, and Jacksonville State coach Ray Harper calls a timeout.  Alabama leads 29-26 and is on a 7-0 run over the last 1:07. 

• 11:10- At the under-12 media timeout, Jacksonville State leads 22-19. During the break, officials reviewed that the the 3-pointer made by Sears was actually a 2, so one point is wiped off the board for Alabama. 
• Amanze Ngumezi has eight points for the Gamecocks. 

• The two teams have tied to go 10-for-18 from 3 in the early going. Alabama is shooting 5-for-8. 

• 12:24- Another nice assists from Quinerly, this time to Bradley for a 3-pointer to tie the game at 17-17. 

• 14:22- Quinerly with a no-look pass to Gurley, who nails the 3-pointer, 14-11 Alabama 

• Jahvon Quinerly, Noah Gurley and Rylan Griffen check in for Alabama coming out of the TV timeout. 

• At the under-16 timeout, it's a tie game at 11-11. Miller is 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Alabama has four fouls to zero for Jacksonville State through the first four minutes.

• 16:26- Jacksonville State takes its first lead on an and-1 from Juwan Perdue. Gamecocks lead 11-8. 

• 17:54- After an errant pass from Mark Sears that turned into a turnover, Nate Oats makes an early substitution. Jaden Bradley comes in for Sears. 

• Brandon Miller makes Alabama's first 3-point attempt of the game. Alabama leads 5-2. 

• Noah Clowney banks one in on the opening possession for the Crimson Tide for Alabama to take the early 2-0 lead. It's the first time in a game this season that Brandon Miller didn't score the opening basket for Alabama. 

• Alabama wins the opening tip, and this game is underway. 

Pregame

Starting Lineups

• Alabama-  same starting lineup for Alabama for the fourth game in a row
• Mark Sears
• Nimari Burnett
• Brandon Miller
• Noah Clowney
• Charles Bediako 
• Jacksonville State
• Demaree King
• Skyelar Potter
• Juwan Perdue
• Peyton Daniels
• Amanze Ngumezi

• Tonight's officials: Bart Lenox, Todd Austin and Shaun Seales.

• Dom Welch and Darius Miles are just in street clothes and both wearing boots. Nate Oats said on Thursday that he hopes to have both guys back next week. 

• Jahvon Quinerly is dressed out and going through warmups with the rest of the guards. 

How to Watch Alabama vs Jacksonville State

Who: Jacksonville State (1-1) at Alabama (3-0)

When: 8 p.m. CT, Friday

Where: Coleman Coliseum

TV: SEC Network. Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Jon Sunvold (analyst).

Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Series: Alabama leads 13-1. The Gamecocks’ lone victory against the Crimson Tide came in the 1952-53 season-opener with head coach Ray Wedgeworth leading JSU to a 67-64 victory.

Last Meeting: The teams opened the 2020-21 season against each other. Alabama won 81-57. Jaden Shackelford had 18 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. John Petty Jr. had 14 points and Herbert Jones 12 points and 12 rebounds. Jahvon Quinerly made his Crimson Tide debut. The Crimson Tide enjoyed a late 27-7 run, while the Gamecocks missed 50 shots, finishing 27.5 percent from the floor (19 of 69).

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide didn't shoot well while picking up its first road win of the season, defeating South Alabama on Monday night, 65-55. Alabama dominated the glass, out-rebounding South Alabama 63-40. Eight different players scored for the Crimson Tide led by freshman Brandon Miller with 19 points to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and one block. Jahvon Quinerly made his season debut after suffering a knee injury eight months ago in the NCA Tournament.

Last time out, Jacksonville State: Lost to University of Illinois-Chicago on Monday, 67-60. JSU struggled shooting just 35-percent on the night, but still had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. Senior Skyelar Potter had team-high 12 points, followed by junior Amanze Ngumezi (11) and sophomore Cam McDowell (10), who reached double figures for the first time in his career. 

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