No. 10 Alabama Basketball Destroys LSU Again, 78-60
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If there were any doubts about how the University of Alabama men's basketball team would respond after its first loss in over a month, the Crimson Tide put them to bed with a 78-60 victory over LSU on Wednesday night inside Coleman Coliseum.
Instead of another record-breaking three-point outing that Alabama used to embarrass the Tigers back on Jan. 19 in Baton Rouge, La., the Crimson Tide earned the regular-season sweep of the Bayou Bengals by dominating the points in the paint, outscoring the visitors by 52-26.
"I thought it was a quality win," Alabama coach Nate Oats said postgame. "We obviously didn't play well offensively as far as shooting the ball. Had a few too many turnovers. We gotta find ways to win when you don't hit 23 threes. LSU played us a lot better than before. We expected that. They have some pride over there because of what we did to them in their gym before."
For the first time in 65 years, the Crimson Tide has started 10-0 in conference play.
No. 10 Alabama (15-4, 10-0 SEC) only converted 2-of-13 from three-point range across the first 20 minutes, but found itself up 36-30 at intermission thanks to 12-of-21 shooting from inside the painted area and going 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Out of the break, the Crimson Tide suffocated the Tigers defensively in the second half, holding LSU to 27.3 percent shooting from the field (9-of-33) and forced seven turnovers.
LSU missed its first eight shots from the field to start the second period.
"We did a better job defending the three this time around," Tigers coach Will Wade said. "But that left a lot of one-on-one matchups and we got beat a lot on those."
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Jaden Shackelford dropped a team-high 19 points, to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Forwards Juwan Gary and Alex Reese and guards Keon Ellis and Jahvon Quinerly combined for 45 points, with each scoring in double-figures.
"I took that loss to Oklahoma personally," Shackelford said. "I feel like that game opened up our eyes. We just wanted to bounce back and stick together."
What might be most impressive about the Crimson Tide's 18-point victory is that it did it without senior wing Herb Jones for most of the evening, after he picked us his fourth foul early into the second half, and Shackelford and guard John Petty Jr. went a combined 1-of-11 from beyond-the-arc.
Alabama outscored LSU in bench points, 34-7, and only finished with six makes from three-point range as a whole.
Gary's 12 points is a career-high for the Columbia, S.C. native.
"I thought our guys did a really good job, especially with Herb — I think he is the best defender in the league — getting his fourth foul so early," Oats said. "Herb is banged up. When three starters combine to go for 12 points, you need to get production elsewhere. It's nice to go to the bench and have three guys give you double figures.
"It was nice to win this one with Herb not playing as much."
LSU (11-6, 6-4 SEC) freshman guard Cameron Thomas scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting and added five rebounds. Mountain Brook, Ala. native and Tigers forward Trendon Watford went 3-of-13 from the field for a total of nine points.
Reese, who added 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, primarily played defense on Watford without Jones in the contest.
"I'm so happy for Reese," Oats said. "We're missing Bruner, but with the way Reese has been playing these last few games, we're not missing him as much."
The road doesn't get any easier for the Crimson Tide as it travels to Columbia to face No. 18 Missouri on Saturday at 11 a.m (CT), which will air on ESPN.
"We've created some separation in the league," Oats said. "I think Missouri is the last team standing with three losses and this is the only time we play them. This is a big game on Saturday for standings and seeding purposes a month from now. I thought the guys responded well to the loss and now we go two days to prepare for this one."
