Alabama basketball stays undefeated, beats South Alabama 65-55

MOBILE, Ala. — After starting their first two games at Coleman Coliseum, Nate Oats and his program had their first road contest of the season on Tuesday. The Tide got to stay in the state of Alabama as they traveled to Mobile for a matchup with the University of South Alabama. Last year’s game between these two programs resulted in a 73-68 victory at home for UA.

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This time around was not as close in the final result. The Crimson Tide held a 10-point lead going into halftime, and kept South Alabama at bay the rest of the game. Alabama defeated the Jaguars 65-55 to advance to 3-0 on the season.

 Here are BamaInsider’s main takeaways from the Tide’s first road victory of the season.

Brandon Miller continues to show star potential, but Alabama struggles from the field

True freshman Brandon Miller will be a focal point of Alabama’s 2022-2023 season. Coming off a game against Liberty in which he scored 20 points, Miller led the Crimson Tide with 19 points on Tuesday night. He shot only 5-of-16 from the field, but did connect on four of his nine three-point attempts. The former five-star also recorded eight rebounds and tied for a season-high with three assists.

Another key takeaway was the team’s continued dominance on the boards. Averaging 56 rebounds per game in their first two contests, the Tide record 63 rebounds versus South Alabama. A good portion of those — 25 — were offensive rebounds. For a team that averaged 39.6 rebounds per game last season, this has been an impressive start for Alabama.

Those offensive rebounds have led to a lot of second chance points for the Tide. They had 22 second chance points against the Jaguars on Tuesday. On the season, they’re averaging just under 19 second chance points per game.

The competition will pick up next week versus Michigan State, but an encouraging sign for the Crimson Tide thus far has been their defense. That’s reflected in the rebounding, but also their opponents’ shooting percentages; in the first two games, Alabama held opponents to 29.4 percent from the field and 31 percent from three. On Tuesday, South Alabama managed to shoot just 8.7 percent from distance and 29.6 percent overall.

There are some areas, however, that the Crimson Tide will need to clean up.

Alabama had a season-high 21 turnovers against the Jaguars. On top of the turnovers, Bama committed a total of 18 personal fouls. Starter Charles Bediako had seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, but fouled out in just 11 minutes of play. Turnovers and fouls have been an issue for the Tide in the early part of the season.

Also, Nate Oats’ group was not very efficient shooting the ball on Tuesday. As a unit, Alabama shot just 32.4 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from distance. The Tide also connected on only 11 of their 20 free throw attempts.

Focusing on some more individual stats, Jaden Bradley had seven points on 3-of-6 shooting, as well as one rebound and one assist.

Noah Clowney had eight points and a team-high in both blocks (3) and rebounds (15) after scoring just two points against Liberty on Friday.

Noah Gurley had a season-high eight points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of play.

Transfer point guard Mark Sears had nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, but did make a pair of three-pointers.

In his first game of the season, senior guard Jahvon Quinerly had a rebound and a couple of turnovers in four minutes of play.

Next up, the Crimson Tide will take on Jacksonville State at home on Friday. Tip-off for that game is set for 8:00 p.m. Central/9:00 p.m. Eastern.

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