Aden Holloway, Alabama ready for conference play after blowout of South Dakota State

The Alabama basketball team finished off the non-conference slate in style, downing South Dakota State 105-82 on Sunday to put a stamp on the first half of the season.

Now it’s on to SEC play.

“I feel like it’s more exciting this time, just being with a new group of guys, being with my brothers and then just having a more amped-up conference,” guard Aden Holloway said after the win. “The SEC is a gauntlet, the best conference in college basketball. It’s just going to be fun to compete and get wins.”

Alabama has done a nice enough job of that through the non-conference portion of the season, jumping out to an 11-2 record and earning a No. 5 ranking nationally.

The resume the Crimson Tide have put together so far is quite solid. There are wins over No. 6 Houston, at No. 20 North Carolina and over No. 25 Illinois.

The lone losses are to a ranked Purdue squad and a very capable Oregon bunch.

So as Alabama put the finishing touches on the non-conference slate, it was all about getting into a good rhythm for conference play, where plenty of ranked opponents will wait.

“I feel like the main thing that we really did a good job of today was just being unselfish,” Holloway said. “I feel like all of our guards got each other shots, creating shots for one another. We did a great job of that tonight.”

Holloway, in particular, thrived for Alabama. He scored a game-high and career-high 26 points coming off the bench, draining eight 3-pointers in the contest.

He wasn’t even really aware he was having a career day.

“Not really, I was just trying to hoop and really try to find my flow, get ready for conference (play),” Holloway said. “That’s the next game we got coming up. But it’s definitely a blessing. Thank you God for that.”

Alabama will begin SEC play on Saturday, Jan. 4, taking on Oklahoma at home in a game that begins at 6 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.