Alabama Basketball Aims to Rebound Against Rebuilding East Tennessee State

The Crimson Tide (4-3) will look to fix some offensive woes as it takes on a revamped East Tennessee State (4-3) squad at 6:30 p.m on SEC Network+

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Tuesday evening, the University of Alabama men's basketball team has one final shot in non-conference play to get things back on track before opening the Southeastern Conference slate, which begins on Dec. 29 against Ole Miss. 

Crimson Tide (4-3) coach Nate Oats and his squad are looking to rebound after a tough 73-71 loss to Western Kentucky this past weekend against a rebuilding East Tennessee State (4-3) team at 6:30 p.m (CT) on SEC Network+. 

"East Tennessee State is coming in and they have some really talented players," Oats told the media via Zoom on Monday. "New coach. Kind of still jelling together because they lost so many guys from last year. But their talent level is high and they are getting better with every game they play. We are going to be getting the best effort they have given all year and we need to play well. 

"This is a game where we are concerned about ourselves. Are we moving the ball well? Are we being unselfish? Are we getting great shots on offense? Are we playing hard? Are we winning the effort on the boards? That's the stuff we are going to be looking at. Obviously we gotta prep and scout for East Tennessee State and we are doing that, but we are more concerned about where we're at than the particular opponent in this game."

Most of Alabama's struggles to open up the 2020-2021 campaign have came on the offensive end.

After leading the SEC in points per game a year ago at 82, the Crimson Tide currently sit in the bottom half of the conference at eighth, averaging 75.6 each time out. It is also last in field-goal percentage, only shooting at a clip of 40.7 percent, and tenth in three-point percentage, which is 29.3 

"We didn't really expect that coming into the year with the offensive weapons we have," Oats said. "So we gotta get the ball moving better and guys playing better on the offensive end."

Senior forward Herb Jones leads Alabama in scoring with 14.0 points per game, while grabbing a team-high in boards with 6.9. Guards Jaden Shackelford and John Petty Jr. are averaging 12.3 and 12.0 pointer per game, respectively. 

Sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly, who had started the Crimson Tide's first six games before coming off the bench against the Hilltoppers to score nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, has excelled in the lead up to this contest with the Buccaneers, per Oats.

"Jahvon's been really good in practice the last few days," Oats said. "I think he starting to get a better grasp of what he want out of him offensively. Between him, Herb, and [Josh] Primo running the point, I think we can get some of our shooters some more open looks."

Meanwhile, East Tennessee State has won four of its last five games after starting 1-3. Jason Shay is in his first year as coach after taking over for Steve Forbes, who left for Wake Forest after leading the Buccaneers to a 30-4 record in 2019-2020. It was only the fourth time in the SoCon's history that a team won at least 30 games in a single season. 

It lost 95 percent of its scoring, 89 percent of its rebounding, and 90 percent of its minutes from that historic team. Guard Ledarrius Brewer leads the ETSU in scoring with 15.1 points per game, while guard David Sloan is second with nine and a team-high four assists each time out. 

"It definitely is harder," Oats said of how the non-conference schedule has been revamped due to COVID-19 protocols. "You don't have as many non-conference games period. You also miss the scrimmage and the exhibition. You missed a lot. But every other team is in the same boat we are. I will say this, I think we have played a lot tougher competition than almost everybody. Obviously, Kentucky has had a really hard schedule and there is a few other SEC teams that have played the level of teams we have. Most of them have not. 

"So I think we will be more ready in that regard. The level of teams we have played (WKU, Clemson, Providence, Stanford) we prepare us, but we gotta start winning those games. In those games, we are 1-3 and we can't be 1-3 in the first four games of conference play. I think this game Tuesday is big and we've gotta be ready to go against Ole Miss. We aren't looking past East Tennessee State to Ole Miss, but we know, one week from now, we gotta be ready for SEC play."