Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Missouri

Blake Byler's thoughts and takeaways from Alabama's semifinal win over Missouri at the SEC Tournament.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the second time in three seasons, Alabama basketball will play for the SEC Tournament championship.

The top-seeded Crimson Tide won a hard-fought game against 4-seed Missouri 72-61 on Saturday afternoon, securing its bid to Sunday's title game.

Here are some of my thoughts and takeaways from the win:

1. Alabama's defense has been elite the entire tournament.

Yesterday, Alabama held Mississippi State to a season-low 49 points in its quarterfinal victory, but today posed a much different challenge against a Missouri team that ranked No. 7 nationally in offensive efficiency per the analytics service KenPom. 

Missouri is a team that mirrors Alabama offensively in philosophy, playing at a fast pace while loving to shoot a large volume of 3-pointers and run in transition. 

For the game, Alabama held Missouri to just 23-for-68 from the field, a 34 percent clip, in addition to holding the Tigers under one point per possession for the game. 

After the game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said that the team's defensive gameplan revolved around manipulating Missouri's "shot geography," attempting to control where on the floor the Tigers could get their shots from.

While Oats admitted Alabama let Missouri shoot more threes than it would have liked, he cited the Tigers' 3-for-16 clip on non-rim 2-point shots as an area of importance. 

Around the basket the Crimson Tide boasts the ever-impressive shot-blocking efforts of Charles Bediako, and the guards and wings stepped up in a big way all afternoon to force Missouri's players into increasingly difficult looks. 

Of course, Alabama's high-powered offense gets all the national love, but as it's been the case all season it's the defense that has truly anchored this team throughout the entire season.

The unit ranks third nationally in KenPom's defensive efficiency and is one of, if not the biggest reason Alabama is a national title contender. 

Defense wins championships, as they say.

2. Noah Clowney owned his matchup with Kobe Brown.

The first time Alabama played Missouri this season, the Crimson Tide won by 21 points in Columbia while Missouri played without first team All-SEC performer Kobe Brown. 

In that matchup, Clowney went for 17 points and 14 rebounds in a dominating effort. Missouri is somewhat undersized as it is, so missing its All-SEC power forward hurts that even more.

In today's game, Brown played, just a day after dropping 24 points on Tennessee in the quarterfinals. Clowney had a more difficult matchup on both sides of the ball this time, and everyone knew it.

Clowney, however, was more than ready for the challenge.

Oats recognized that Clowney was the matchup for Brown, and the substitution patterns showed it. Every time Brown exited the game, Clowney exited, and the same with entrances as well.

Brown finished the day with just six points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field, his lowest point total since the Tigers played Kansas on Dec. 10. 

And for his matchup? Clowney scored 19 points on the day, his best offensive output since Dec. 3. His points came on an efficient 7-for-11 shooting with a really nice display of his finishing touch around the rim as well as three of Alabama's eight makes from beyond the arc.

Clowney's efforts on both the offensive end as one of Alabama's few consistent shooters on the day, and on the defensive end shutting down Missouri's biggest threat showcased his elite versatility and proved what we already knew: Alabama has unbelievable riches of depth at its disposal.

3. Alabama can win nearly any game without playing its best.

This has been a talking point all season, and that's because it's true.

Alabama's best game is better than the best game that any other team in the country can play, and that's been made apparent by the multiple 40-point wins over high-major opponents this season.

The thing that sets this Alabama team apart though, is its ability to win so many games, many of which still aren't particularly close, while playing below its standard.

It goes without saying that the Crimson Tide didn't play its best offensive game today. The 3-point shooting was not good for most of the game, even sitting at 2-for-20 before the barrage late in the second half began. Turnovers numbers were up again, this time a total of 17.

Alabama's first half offense looked out of sync, similar to the starts it's seen the past few weeks just without the deficit to overcome. Instead of attacking the basket for better looks, players continually forced up 3-pointers that weren't going in. And to top it all off, the defense let up tremendously in the last few minutes of the half and the first few minutes of the second, leading to a four-point hole that felt more like eight or 10. 

Despite all of that, Alabama won by 11 over a top-25 team and the outcome never truly felt in question after the under-4 timeout. 

As the NCAA Tournament approaches, everyone always says it's important to be playing your best basketball. I don't think Alabama is necessarily doing that right now, but it doesn't even matter.

This team's best will beat you by 40, but you have to pray to get it's worst to even have a chance at getting a win.

4. A few more things...

• Today's win marked Alabama's 28th of the season, setting the program record for wins in a season. 

• Brandon Miller surpassed Collin Sexton's freshman scoring record at Alabama now with 645 points scored this season.  

• Noah Gurley continues to be an extremely solid play off the bench. He was 2-for-2 from the field today, including one 3-point make. He's now 4-for-5 from three for the tournament.  

• Jahvon Quinerly had a bad day from the floor, going 0-for-9, but still played pretty well overall. He dished out seven assists including a few beautiful lobs, and only turned it over one time. 

• Alabama now gets the chance to play for an SEC Tournament championship for the second time in three years, and will get another shot at Texas A&M, who defeated the Crimson Tide in the regular season finale. 

See also:

No. 1 Alabama Basketball Secures SEC Title Game Berth with 72-61 Win over No. 4 Missouri

How Alabama Switched Momentum in Second Half to Beat Missouri

Noah Clowney Asserts Dominance Over Kobe Brown in Semifinal Win Over No. 4 Missouri

Everything Nate Oats, Alabama Basketball Said After Defeating Missouri