3 Takeaways From Alabama Basketball's Stifling Effort Against Kent State

The Crimson Tide didn't shoot well but came away with an impressive victory over the Golden Flashes.

Dec 22, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears (1) works against Kent State Golden Flashes guard Jamal Sumlin (4) during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images / Will McLelland-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 6 Alabama basketball program handled Kent State on Sunday 81-54 in the team's penultimate non-conference game. The Crimson Tide overcame poor shooting by guarding and rebounding well, preventing the Golden Flashes from getting into an offensive flow and ultimately cruising to an easy win.

Alabama managed just its third lowest three-point percentage of the season, making nine-of-35, but held the Golden Flashes to just 54 points, tying a season low in points allowed dating back to the Crimson Tide's season opener against UNC Asheville.

---

1. Alabama Basketball Still Tinkering With Rotations

Alabama head coach Nate Oats highlighted the Kent State and upcoming game against South Dakota State as the final opportunities to make an impression on the coaching staff ahead of conference play. The Crimson Tide's routinely utilized 11 or more players in non-conference play and that continued on Sunday.

"I think every game's building a little bit more towards figuring out what we're trying to do," Oats said after the win. "I think this is helping maybe solidify - there's a few guys that you can't take out of the rotation, they're just playing too good. I think we can get it down to nine or ten pretty quick. We've got one more game before SEC play and we'll try to figure it out."

12 players saw action on Sunday, including walk-on Max Scharnowski in the game's final minutes. Houston Mallette played the fewest minutes with just six on Sunday but managed to make one of his two three-point shots and secure two rebounds while also playing well defensively. Forwards Aden Sherrell, Mouhamed Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson saw the three fewest minutes after that with 11, 15 and 18 respectively. Who will be relegated to less playing time once Alabama starts conference play?

2. Crimson Tide Turnover Troubles

Alabama and Kent State tipped off at an awkward time of noon on Sunday. The Crimson Tide looked at times like it was playing a lazy mid-afternoon game in the park as they managed to turn the ball over 19 times with 13 coming in the first half.

The 19 were Alabama's second most on the season, just behind its 20 giveaways against Rutgers at the Players Era Festival. To make matters worse Alabama senior guard Mark Sears led the team with five turnovers while senior Grant Nelson was just behind him with four.

"I’ve been super happy with the way Mark’s been playing over the last month, month and a half," Oats said. "The only real issue is his turnovers. We just got to get him to cut down on the turnovers, and it’s not for lack of wanting to do well. He’s trying to make the right reads. Sometimes he’s so aggressive – he had the one turnover the first half, he kind of drove into a crowd. We got to stop those. The one he threw it out of bounds in the second half, there was a little bit of miscommunication between him and Houston, if Houston had stayed or lifted." 

The Crimson Tide is currently 272nd in the nation when it comes to protecting the basketball as Alabama's averaging 13.3 turnovers per game. The Crimson Tide must lose its nonchalant mentality with the basketball and end each possession with a shot if they intend to compete with the best the SEC has to offer this season.

3. Bama Bounced Back On Defensive End

The Crimson Tide bounced back in a big way on defense on Sunday after giving up 90 points to North Dakota on Wednesday.

“There’s certain things that you just have to have, and if you’re not focused on them in practice or drilling them, they start to go away a little bit,” Oats said ahead of the game on Friday. “So that’s what we did today just at the beginning of practice, and we’re probably just gonna have to continue to do it.

“We’re just working on some of the fundamentals – close-outs, staying in front of the ball, ball pressure, tracing it. Some of those threes we gave up, guys just weren’t into the ball. They just let them eye them up and shoot it.”

Those fundamentals paid off as Alabama held Kent State to just 28 percent from the floor, the second-lowest mark for the Crimson Tide defense this season. After giving up 40 points to Treysen Eaglestaff and 17 three-point shots to North Dakota the Crimson Tide held VonCameron Davis, Marquis Barnett and Delrecco Gillespie to nine points each and Kent State combined to make just two of 27 from beyond the arc.

Alabama answered Oats' challenge by holding Kent State to just 24 points in the first half, mitigating any offensive issues with strong defense.

“A much better defensive effort, so it will be a lot better Christmas break for us," Oats said. "We did make a big point of emphasis on defense, especially after that debacle up in North Dakota with Eaglestaff. What we felt like the one guy that could get going like Eaglestaff on this team was Sullinger, and he ended up shooting 1-of-14. He didn’t score in the second half, so I think we did a little bit better job being locked into a perimeter guy that can kind of get going. We held them to a pretty good field goal percentage. They only shot 28 percent."

---

Alabama's managed an impressive 10-2 record through one of the hardest non-conference schedules in the nation. The Crimson Tide has one more non-conference game before taking on the SEC which currently boasts eight teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll with five other programs receiving votes. The program must clean up its turnover issues and play consistent defense if they're to win their third SEC regular season championship under Oats.

Read More: No. 6 Alabama Basketball Dominates Kent State, 81-54

Strong Rebounding Performance Leads No. 6 Alabama Men's Basketball Past Kent State

BamaCentral Courtside: Alabama 81, Kent State 54