Rylan Griffen reveals his biggest takeaway from Alabama's dominant win over LSU

Alabama hoops laid the smackdown on LSU over the weekend. The Crimson Tide dominated the Tigers from tip to finish, racking up 106 points en route to a 40-point home victory. Nate Oats’ club was flawless in nearly every aspect of the game, but afterwards, Alabama wing Rylan Griffen pointed to rebounding as an area where the team saw improvement.

“Probably rebounds,” Griffen answered in the postgame presser when asked about what aspect of the win the team was most proud of. “Because they told us that we were last or almost last in the conference on both sides of the ball in rebounding. So hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we can keep this up for no matter who we play.”

The Crimson Tide weren’t a great defensive rebounding team coming into the LSU game — however, they are a pretty strong unit on the offensive glass. And against the Tigers, Alabama did rebound better, but their best work was on the offensive end. Of their 41 missed shots on offense, the Tide grabbed 20 of them, good for nearly a 50% offensive rebound rate. But, they still gave up 14 offensive boards on the other end.

So, while the offensive rebounding was the best it’s been all season against LSU, the defensive rebounding was still poor compared to what it should be. Props to Griffen, though, who did tie his own season-high on the glass by grabbing six rebounds, including three on the offensive end.

Nate Oats on Rylan Griffen and Dom Welch

Coach Oats had high praise for Griffen and fellow wing Dominick Welch, who may not have shot the ball well but continued to be great teammates.

“You see what Rylan Griffen and Dom Welch. It’s hard to get those guys a tone of minutes all the time. Their attitude’s been great. The chemistry has been good. They’ve been good teammates. There’s a few things, but those would be some of the ones that come to the top of my head right out of the game.

“So we tried to get them as many minutes as we could in a game like this today. Neither one of them shot it great, but they both got game reps. Dom ended up going 1-for-5. He’s a guy that should go 2-for-5. He’s close. He can easily go 3-of-5, 4-of-5 when he’s on. And then Rylan’s a much better shooter than what he’s been showing. So we’re trying to get those guys some game reps and get them some rhythm.”

With more playing time, that shooting rhythm will come. In the interim, the pair of wings could earn extra minutes by crashing the glass on defense, where the Tide could use a better effort given the overall size and athleticism of this group.