The suddenly red-hot Alabama Crimson Tide won their sixth straight game with a 90-83 victory over LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday. The Bayou Tigers haven’t been great this year, but are playing tough at home. Any road win in the SEC is cause for celebration, and this one gave the Tide 20 wins for the fourth straight year. The record was last touched between 1989 and 1992. Alabama improves to 20-7 overall and 10-4 in league play. LSU lost 14-13 and 2-12 in the SEC.
Head coach Nate Oates retained the starting five of LaBaron Philon, Aden Holloway, and Amari Allen. London Jemison and Aiden Scherer. Philon was injured after playing 45 minutes in Wednesday’s win over Arkansas and did not practice this week. The second-year guard played the least minutes and scored a season-low eight points.
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The game got off to a slow start, with the Tide leading 6-4 with 16:37 left in the half. Taylor Bol Bowen hit a three-pointer at 14:30 to give Bama a 9-6 lead. With 6:18 left in the game, Allen, Sherrell and Houston Mallett all hit three-pointers to give Alabama a 24-21 lead. The Tide led by nine with less than a minute left, but the team fell asleep and the Tigers cut the deficit to 43-40 at halftime.
Alabama shot 12-24 in the first half and 5-13 from three-point range, but fortunately the team led 14-14 at the charity stripe. Bama had 14 rebounds, 2 offensive assists, 7 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, and 4 turnovers. Holloway scored 10 points and 3 assists. Allen ranked second with 7 points, and Scherer contributed 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block and 1 assist.
The Tigers shot 14-35 from the field, or 40 percent, but shot 7-14 from beyond the arc. The home team is 5-6 at the charity stripe. LSU had 19 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals, and committed 5 turnovers. Maguire Sutton scored a team-high nine points and was assisted by seven points from Rashad King and Jalen Reese. Michael Nwoko only scored 4 points but grabbed 8 rebounds.
The same starters came on in the second half. The Tide got off to a hot start, taking a comfortable 61-49 lead with the help of 3-pointers from Scherer, Allen and Holloway. With 12 minutes left in the game, Bama led 65-51 and the score remained mostly comfortable. LSU didn’t give up and went for it. With 3 minutes and 55 seconds left in the game, the Tide led 78-70. After a few missed free throws and some offensive rebounds, the Tigers led 81-75 with 2:15 left. After countless challenges and reviews, the last few minutes of the competition took nearly 20 minutes to end. In the end, the Tide won 90-83.
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In the second half, Bama shot 13 of 34 from the field, a shooting percentage of 38%, 5 of 17 three-pointers, a shooting percentage of 29%, and 16 of 23 from the free throw line, a shooting percentage of 70%. Overall, the Tide went 25-58 on 43 percent shooting, 10-30 on 33 percent from long range, and 30-37 on 81 percent from the free throw line. In the second half, Alabama fought hard on the boards, reaching 39-13 on offensive rebounds. The team contributed 13 assists, 4 blocks, 5 steals and 8 turnovers. Holloway scored 17 points, dished out 4 assists and 2 steals. Joining the young guard in scoring in double figures were Allen with 16 points and 6 rebounds, Wrightsell with 14 points, including 9 of 10 from the free throw line, Jamieson with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal. Scherer scored his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while also sending 4 blocks and 3 assists. Scherer was plagued by foul trouble and did his damage in just 20 minutes.
LSU’s record in the second half was 15-34, shooting 44% from the field, 2-6 from three-point range, and 11-16 from the free throw zone. Overall, the Tigers shot 29-of-69 from the field (42%), 9-of-20 (45%) from 3-point range, and 16-of-22 from the free throw line. The rebounding battle was tied at 39, and the Tigers also had 14 assists, 4 blocks, 4 steals, and conceded the ball 10 times. Sutton scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Reese scored 14 points, P.J. Carter scored 13 points, King scored 12 points, and Pablo Tamba performed well in the second half, scoring a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Nate Oats had another great road win. It’s easy to have a hangover after a thrilling double-overtime victory over Arkansas, but Oats seemed to have his team focused and playing hard. Holloway did an excellent job filling Philon’s role in the All-American Limited Series. Even though Scherer’s total minutes were lower, he still performed well and was helped tremendously by Jemison having the best game of his career. Mallett only scored six points again, but his late game effort and rebounding were huge factors in the win.
Next up is Wednesday night at home against another lower SEC team, Mississippi State, at 8 p.m. However, any team with an explosive player like Josh Hubbard can be dangerous, so the Tide will need to stay focused. The game will air on ESPN2/ESPNU.
Curly tide!
