No. 1 Alabama’s Success at Coleman Coliseum This Season Isn’t Ordinary

The Crimson Tide has won home games by 57, 49, 42, and 40 this season — and is undefeated in Tuscaloosa in 2022-23.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Every now and then, a basketball team can have an almost perfect night and win by 30 or 40 points. And usually it’s against an inferior opponent during the nonconference portion of the schedule.

The Alabama Crimson Tide is making it a regular thing inside of Coleman Coliseum this season.

The Crimson Tide (23-4, 13-1 SEC) is amidst perhaps the greatest season in the history of the men’s basketball program. But what’s even more impressive is what Alabama has done to opposing teams inside the doors of its 55-year-old gymnasium.

The Crimson Tide defeated Longwood by 21, Liberty by 36, Jacksonville State by 42 and Jackson State by 20.

But it didn’t stop there. Alabama has continued its onslaught of visitors in SEC play.

The Crimson Tide defeated Ole Miss by 22, Kentucky by 26, LSU by 40, Vanderbilt by 57 and Florida by 28.

And on Saturday, Alabama pummeled Georgia 108-59 — a 49-point victory.

“The brotherhood that we have is tight, it’s different,” forward Nick Pringle said. “We believe in each other, we believe in the coaches. We’ve got a lot of leaders on the team. […] This is something great to be a part of.”

The more often it happens, the more normal it makes it seem. But this success on the home floor isn’t normal — it’s extraordinary.

In fact let’s put it into football terms. The Crimson Tide basketball team is beating conference opponents worse than Nick Saban’s bunch beats the likes of Austin Peay.

Alabama is the first SEC team since 1955-56 to beat three conference opponents by 40+ points.

“We’ve got some offensive firepower to go along with a really good defensive team,” head coach Nate Oats said. “People are going to talk about our offense — our defense is actually ranked ahead of our offense right now in all of the efficiency metrics. […] [Georgia] is a good team. They beat Kentucky who turned around and beat Tennessee today.”

Oats attributed some of the success at home to the fans.

“It’s great to have sellouts. It’s great for our guys. [It] shows them that the community is supporting them. We’ve got a great fan base that wants to see them succeed. […] My first year here, we weren’t getting all of these sellouts.”

At this point, if the Crimson Tide continues to shoot the ball like it has at Coleman Coliseum this season, it may burn the building to the ground, thus leading to a new arena — just like everyone wants.

Alabama has just two home games left — Arkansas next Saturday and Auburn on March 1. If the Crimson Tide can with both of those, it will finish what has been a perfect season at Coleman Coliseum.

See Also:

Alabama Defeats Georgia 108-59 with the Best Shooting Night of the Season