No. 4 Alabama Downs Pesky LSU 79-69 in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. — A win is a win.
Coming off the heels of a dominant 57-point victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday, the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide came into Pete Maravich Assembly Center and picked up a 79-69 victory over LSU.
The Crimson Tide held a seven-point halftime lead, thanks in large part to Nimari Burnett, who had his second straight stellar performance since returning from wrist surgery. Burnett had all 13 of his points in the first half, including shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
The game wasn't the prettiest on either end of the floor, and Alabama head coach Nate Oats didn't shy away from his feelings about the team getting outrebounded and the overall effort on the defensive end.
"I was a little disappointed with the effort, to be honest with you," Oats said. "We got outrebounded by five, we've got to do a better job. We've got to find a group of guys that are going to play hard no matter what, we can't be up-and-down every other game."
Star freshman Brandon Miller had a slower night than usual for Alabama, scoring 11 points on just 3-for-11 shooting from the field.
Despite Miller's struggles, Alabama continued its hot shooting from the Vanderbilt game in the form of not just Burnett, but freshman Rylan Griffen and junior Mark Sears. Griffen shot 4-of-5 from 3-point land and scored 14 points in the game — a sign of Griffen's ever-growing role as SEC play has gone on.
"Teams are going to try to take Brandon [Miller] and Mark [Sears] out, they've been our leading scorers on the year," Oats said. "We need somebody else to make some shots and [Griffen and Burnett] are proven shotmakers that are stepping up and making shots in games now. I'm super happy for both of them."
Sears, who had been in a shooting slump as of late, shot 3-of-5 from downtown and made his first three attempts, the latter two coming at critical times in the second half when Alabama needed to pull away.
"He's wired to score," Oats said. "I thought he played harder in the second half and he got some looks. I think [Jahvon] Quinerly being in there with him got him some looks. He shot it well. [...] He was pretty efficient from three, he didn't have a turnover. He had three assists, no turnovers. I thought he played well for us there when we needed some scoring to open the game up a little bit."
Another major contributor for Alabama was freshman Noah Clowney, who has also broken out of a shooting slump. Clowney scored 14 points in the game and made two 3-pointers of his own. He gave LSU fits throughout the game on pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop situations, leaving the defense scrambling to cover the variety of threats he poses in ball screen situations.
Down the stretch, the Crimson Tide struggled mightily on the offensive end of the floor. Alabama did not score a basket from the floor after the under-8 timeout, and scored just four points in the last seven minutes of the game.
Despite this, the Alabama defense dug its heels in and got much-needed stops as LSU attempted to claw its way back into the game. The Tigers were held to zero field goals in the final three minutes, and only made one of their final 10 shots from the floor.
"We feel like we could've been better on defense, but we got stops when we needed," Burnett said.
Leaving Baton Rouge with a win, Alabama has arguably its toughest stretch of the season coming up, with its next three games being against Florida, at No. 25 Auburn and at No. 2 Tennessee.
The Crimson Tide will face Florida in Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. CT.
How It Happened:
(most recent update at the top)
Second Half
- FINAL: Alabama 79, LSU 69
- Miller hits two free throws to make it a 79-69 ballgame in Alabama's favor.
- Two Sears free throws push the Alabama lead to 77-69 with 45 seconds remaining.
- Timeout on the floor with just over a minute remaining. Alabama leads 75-68.
- LSU is on a 4-0 run entering the under-4 timeout. Alabama leads 75-67.
- Back-to-back threes for Sears. Alabama leads 75-63 at the under-8 timeout.
- Griffen's fourth three of the night goes down. Alabama leads 69-60.
- Clowney nails his second three of the game to push Alabama's lead to nine points.
- At the under-12 timeout Alabama leads 61-54.
- LSU hits another three, once again cutting the lead down to two, but Griffen responds with an answer of his own. Alabama leads 58-54.
- Miller stops the LSU run with an and-one bringing up the under-16 timeout. Alabama leads 52-48 with a Miller free throw coming after the break.
- LSU knocks down another three to bring the lead within just two points.
- Griffen nails a corner three to extend the Alabama lead to 50-44.
- LSU's Fountain opens the second half with a bucket, but Sears answers with a three. Alabama leads 47-39.
First Half
- HALFTIME: Alabama leads LSU 44-37.
- Two Sears free throws extend the Alabama lead to 44-34.
- Burnett's third three of the game goes down. Alabama leads 40-32.
- At the under-4 timeout Alabama leads 35-30.
- LSU is living at the free throw line, now 11-for-12 on the game. Alabama's lead has been cut to 31-28.
- Nate Oats receives a technical and LSU nails both free throws, cutting the lead to 29-22.
- At the under-8 timeout Bediako has rejoined the Alabama huddle.
- Miller's first points of the game come from beyond the arc. Alabama leads 29-20.
- Bediako left the floor holding his shoulder and has gone to the locker room.
- Griffen hits a three of his own. Alabama leads 24-17 and is 4-for-8 from three in the game.
- Clowney gets in on the action from three, giving Alabama three straight makes from behind the arc. The Crimson Tide leads 17-11 with just under 12 minutes to go.
- Back-to-back threes now for Burnett. Alabama leads 14-11.
- Burnett hits Alabama's first three of the game from the left corner. Alabama leads 11-8.
- Bediako answers with a dunk on the other end. He has all six Alabama points and trims the LSU lead to 8-6 at the under-16 timeout.
- A three goes down for LSU, putting the Tigers ahead 8-4.
- LSU responds with a free throw followed by a layup on the ensuing possession to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
- Bediako opens the game with a slam. Alabama leads 2-0.
Pregame
- Officials for this afternoon's game will be Pat Adams, Rob Rorke and Jason Baker.
- Alabama will use its typical starting five of Mark Sears, Jaden Bradley, Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako.
How to Watch Alabama at LSU
Who: No. 4 Alabama (19-3, 9-0 SEC) at LSU (12-9, 1-7 SEC)
When: 3 p.m. CT, Saturday
Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, La.
TV: ESPNU
Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart; Analyst: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
Series: Alabama leads, 114-75
Last Meeting: The Crimson Tide and Tigers met on Jan. 14 at Coleman Coliseum — ending in an Alabama 106-66 victory.
The Crimson Tide was led by 31 points and nine rebounds from Brandon Miller. Four others scored in double figures.
Alabama knocked down 20 3-pointers en route to the 40-point win.
Last Time Out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide crushed Vanderbilt 101-44 on Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama was led by 22 points and eight rebounds from Brandon Miller. The Crimson Tide shot a season-high 59% from the field and knocked down 19 shots from deep range.
The 57-point victory was the largest for Alabama in SEC history — and the biggest margin in the conference since 2003.
Last Time Out, LSU: The Tigers lost to Texas Tech 76-68 on Saturday in the SEC / Big 12 Challenge.
LSU is playing at Missouri on Wednesday night in Columbia.
Alabama Leaders:
- Scoring: Brandon Miller (19.2 PPG)
- Rebounding: Noah Clowney (8.4 RPG)
- Assists: Jaden Bradley, Jahvon Quinerly (3.4 APG)
LSU Leaders:
- Scoring: KJ Williams (17.2 PPG)
- Rebounding: KJ Williams (7.4 RPG)
- Assists: Justice Hill (3.5 APG)
