Victory Thread: Alabama takes care of business vs Kent State

Alabama is still far from clicking on all cylinders, but they managed an uneventful win over an overmatched Kent State squad at Coleman Coliseum today.

The three point shooting continues to confound. Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood, both of whom made over 40% of their attempts last season, combined for 2-8 from deep in the first half and everyone else went 0-9. Fortunately the Tide played well on defense, and the Golden Flashes somehow managed to shoot just as poorly, which allowed Alabama to take a 39-24 lead into the locker room.

Ball movement continues to be an issue for this team. The Tide had only four assists in the first half. Part of that was the poor shooting, but there was also simply too much one on one basketball being played. This is something that can develop as the season goes along, and it needs to if they are to make any deep postseason runs.

Derrion Reid replaced Jarin Stevenson in the lineup to open the second half, after Jarin saw his minutes reduced to eight in the opening frame with two fouls. The three point shooting didn’t get much better initially, but the defense kept up and the Tide found some success getting to the rim. Finally, the lid came off the basket from deep late in the game. Youngblood, Aden Holloway, Houston Mallette, and Labaron Philon each hit a three as Alabama pushed the lead out to 30.

The story of this game was rebounding. Kent State did manage 14 offensive boards, but that isn’t terribly great considering they missed more than 50 shots. Alabama dominated both ends, 58-34 overall and 20-14 on the offensive glass, and that’s the reason that the game wasn’t close. The Tide did manage ten assists in the second half, mostly because a few outside shots started falling. They will need to continue to jell as an offensive unit as SEC play looms.

Nate Oats will now have a week to work out some kinks before one last tune up, next Sunday against South Dakota State. After that Oklahoma comes to town to kick off what is going to be an absolutely brutal conference schedule.

Roll Tide.