The Alabama Crimson Tide opened their season on Tuesday at home, hosting Sam Houston. Bama started slowly before eventually wearing the Bearkats down and costing to a 96-74 win. Alabama defeated Furman, Ole Miss, and Auburn in exhibitions prior to the season starting.
Coach Nate Oats sent out a starting five of Amari Allen, Qayden Samuels, London Jemison, Drew Fielder, and Brandon Garrison. Sam Houston countered wth Jacobs Coleman, Justin Begg, Enel St. Bernard, Aidan McDowell, and Cheikh Ndiaye. The Tide had a considerable size advantage.
Bama started slowly and led only 6-2 with 15:52 left in the half. With 14:55 remains the Tide led 6-5 and were 0-7 from three point range. Oats was liberally substituting, bringing guys in by pairs every couple of minutes. With under 14 minutes on the clock Jemison finally hit the teams first long range shot for an 11-7 lead. Highly regarded freshman Jaxon Richardson had a highlight reel dunk on a breakaway to follow up for at 13-7 lead.
Freshman point guard Anderson Diaz got his first action of the year, bouncing back from a wrist injury that had kept him sidelined. With 10:08 left the Tide was on pace for 56 points, holding a lead of 14-10. Tarris Bouie followed an Allen hoop with a fantastic windmill dunk for a lead of 20-12 with 8:10 remaining.
Fielder and Bouie both hit from long range, followed by another pair from Jemison for a 37-20 lead at the 3:45 mark. The Bearkats shrunk the margin to 40-29 at the break. Oats used eight players at least 10 minutes or more in the period.
The Tide shot 16-38 for 42% in the half, with only 4-15 for 27% from deep, while making 4-6 free throws. Bama had 24 rebounds, with eight on the offensive end, with eight assists, seven blocks, 7 steals, and committed seven turnovers.
Jemsion led the way with 10 points on 4-4 shooting and had two rebounds and two steals. Bouie scored seven with four rebounds, one block, and a steal. Fielder scored six and rebounded four, Allen added five points with two rebounds, three assists, one block, and two steals.
Sam Houston made 9-30 shots for 30%, including 5-15 for 33% from deep. SH was 6-10 at the line, grabbed 22 rebounds, had four assists, three blocks, six steals, and gave the ball away 11 times. Coleman scored 10 points and Pipkin added eight to lead the team.
Alabama used the same starting lineup in the second half and quickly put the game away. The Tide scored in the paint out of the break and with 18:55 left Jemison nailed another long range jumper for a 45-29 lead. When the margin reached 18 at 49-31, Sam Houston called a timeout. After the timeout Samuels hit from long distance and the lead was 21. Bama’s length and aggressiveness on defense was bothering the Bearkats as the lead ballooned. Keitenn Bristow hit a three pointer for a 61-34 lead with 14:34 left in the game. Oats continued to rotate guys in and out, and everyone was contributing. With 3:50 left the lead swole to 90-61. Oats was upset after the game when Sam Houston outscored the Tide 13-6 over the remainder of the game.
In the second half Alabama was 20-37 for 54% in the period with 6-16 for 38% from deep and 14-19 at the charity stripe. Overall the Tide finished 36-75 for 48%, 10-31 for 32 % from three, and 14-19 for 74% at the line. Bama finished with 42 rebounds,- 13 offensively-, 17 assists, 10 blocks, 17 steals, and 10 turnovers. Fiedler tied for the team lead with 15 points and had six rebounds and one assist. Jemison also had 15 on 6-7 shooting including 3-4 from three point range, and added three rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Bouie continued to impress with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assist, two steals, and a block. Allen scored 12 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out four assists, had two steals and blocked a shot while not committing any turnovers as the primary ball handler. Garrison won the hard hat with nine points, four rebounds, two blocks, three steals, and seven deflections. Samuels also had nine points to go with a team leading five assists and four steals. Bristow has the look of the ultimate garbage man for the Tide, scoring five points with three rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Sharp shooting freshman guard Cole Cloer had a tough opener, going 1-9 from the field including 0-6 from three point land.
Sam Houston shot 16-35 for 46% in the second stanza with 10-18 for 56% from deep and 3-6 at the free throw line. Overall the Kats were 25-65 for 39%, with 15-33 for 46% from three, and 9-16 for 56% at the line. Sam Houston finished with 45 rebounds, 15 offensively, 17 assists, six blocks, seven steals, and 23 turnovers. Coleman was the leading scored with 16 points with six rebounds and an assist. Begg added 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. St. Bernard had five points and was the games leading rebounder with eight and tossed in three assists.
After the game Oats was pleased with the win, but was unhappy with the teams rebounding and late game defense, particularly in letting Houston make 10 three pointers in the half, with most of them in the last four to five minutes of the game. Oats mentioned 11 players playing double digit minutes in the game with five Players playing 20 or more minutes- but no one more than 21, and that Aiden Holloway will be back in the team’s third game, giving 12 guys battling for minutes. The 8th year head coach said there will be some unhappy players when it comes to playing, adding “if they don’t play hard, play defense, rebound, and take good shots when they are there, they will be sitting.”
This was a nice opening day win. The team definitely got bigger and longer. The Tide has a chance to be a very good defensive team with the length and quickness of the roster. Overall with the size and quickness and bounce guys like Bouie and Richardson have, rebounding could become a strength.
Next up is another home game at Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday. The Tide will host Arkansas State, and can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
Roll Tide