Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Ole Miss

Blake Byler's thoughts and takeaways from Alabama basketball's SEC home opener.

Blake Byler | Jan 4, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide continued its strong start to the season on Tuesday night, eviscerating Ole Miss at home by 22 points.

The 84-62 win brings Alabama's SEC record to 2-0, and its overall record to 12-2. Here are my thoughts on the win:

1. Alabama avoided a letdown game.

This is Alabama basketball, we've seen this before.

In years past it would have been entirely expected for the Crimson Tide to struggle with a seemingly lesser Ole Miss team with Kentucky on the horizon in just a few days. We even saw it last season multiple times as Alabama continually played down to its opponent's level.

This year it's been different. It hasn't mattered what team was on the opposing bench. This year's Alabama team has showed up the same way for every game, played with the same intensity no matter the opponent, and more times than not resulted in the same result: a win.

If Alabama maintains that level of intensity regardless of opponent, this already-special season could get even better.

2. The offensive depth showed once again.

This is one of the deepest teams we've seen in Tuscaloosa in a long time, and it showed once again on Tuesday.

By the end of the game, five different Alabama players scored in double figures and all but one non-walk-on scored in the game. The only scholarship player that played and didn't score was Dom Welch, who only took one shot.

In the first half, nine players scored and all got their buckets in unique ways, showcasing how well each player is adapting to their role on the offense end. Rylan Griffen hit a deep three. Noah Gurley hit a post fadeaway. Nick Pringle finished an and-one off a lob.

Brandon Miller and Mark Sears are going to get theirs more often than not, and defenses know that. What makes Alabama so dangerous is its plethora of other talent that can score the basketball in so many different ways.

Even when Miller or Sears are off, the Crimson Tide is typically still able to find consistent offense from its other contributors like we've seen many other times this season. And when everyone is hitting? It results in a 20-point halftime lead like we saw Tuesday.

3. Jahvon Quinerly is returning to form.

Quinerly's struggles since returning from a torn ACL have been well-documented. He hasn't looked as quick off the bounce and he led the team in turnovers per game entering Tuesday.

Against Ole Miss, though, Quinerly played the best game he's played for the Crimson Tide all season. He scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and didn't turn the ball over a single time. He also shot 3-for-5 from downtown, and is now up to 33 percent from 3-point range on the season — good enough for fourth on Alabama's team.

After the game, Oats said Quinerly is starting to "get his swagger back." We've seen what happens when Quinerly is playing with swagger — an SEC Tournament MVP — so for him to be on his way to returning to that level is a great sign for an already deep team.

Quinerly maximizing his potential would open up even more for this potent Alabama offense.

4. Turnovers were finally cut down.

I just talked about this a bit regarding Quinerly and I wrote about it after the game here, but the fact that Alabama had just seven turnovers in the game can't go without mentioning.

Coming into the game the Crimson Tide was averaging over 17 turnovers per game, which ranked outside of the top 350 in all of college basketball.

Oats has been vocal about turnovers to the media, and the players have emphasized that it has been more of the same in practice. Careless turnovers have been plentiful, from driving into traffic, to unwarranted passes, to passing up good shots.

All of that was cut down against Ole Miss, which showed a new level of focus from the team. Alabama has won a lot of big games already in spite of the turnover issue, so if the Crimson Tide can continue to improve it and get its average down closer to single digits, it's going to be hard to find a team that can exploit Alabama's few weaknesses.

5. Alabama didn't shoot a lot of threes, and that's okay.

Oats-coached teams, and Alabama specifically, have developed a reputation of loving to shoot the 3-pointer. It's warranted, too, with the Crimson Tide consistently ranking near the top of the country in 3-pointers attempted per game as a team.

This year is more of the same. Alabama averages over 28 attempted threes per game, good enough to rank eighth nationally.

On Tuesday, though, Alabama shot just 20 threes — well below the season average for the Crimson Tide. However, Alabama was efficient in those 20 attempts, making eight for a 45 percent clip.

The fact of the matter is, Alabama has never been a "live by the three, die by the three" team. Oats' offense relies around paint touches at its core, which results in open threes on kickouts. However, when the paint touches can result in points like they did against Ole Miss, the 3-pointers becomes less of a necessity.

Alabama scored 38 points in the paint against Ole Miss and 17 at the free throw line. When offense inside is coming like that, the Crimson Tide doesn't have to rely on a high volume of 3-pointers to sustain its offense.

But, it definitely helps when Alabama has as many shooters as it does and can still knock down a lower volume of threes at a high clip.

6. A few more things...

Alabama was outrebounded by nine against the Rebels, and had one of its worst rebounding outputs of the year. That can't repeat with Kentucky and Oscar Tshiebwe, the nation's best rebounder, coming to Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

Bradley and Sears combined to shoot 15-for-19 from the free throw line. That is excellent for two guards that love to get downhill and draw contact.

Alabama's defense and length were excellent again, holding a second straight SEC opponent under 70 points. The Crimson Tide also held Ole Miss to just .861 points per possession.