Aaron Estrada's Blue Collar Effort Leads to Breakthrough in Conference Play

The transfer guard bounced back in a big way on Saturday night after going scoreless against the Auburn Tigers.

The Alabama Crimson Tide eclipsed the 100-point mark for the sixth time this season en route to defeating the LSU Tigers 109-88 on Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum. 

Graduate student guard Aaron Estrada had, undoubtedly, struggled since the calendar turned and SEC play began. He entered Saturday's game averaging just six points per game through the first six conference games, a sharp drop-off from the 13.6 he produced in non-conference action.

Despite Estrada's struggles, Alabama head coach Nate Oats kept his faith in the transfer because of what he showed from a competitive standpoint. That faith paid off as Estrada finished with 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals. 

"I think Aaron was going through a little bit of a slump. He needs a confidence boost. Every shot he missed I just kept cheering him on. I thought he was playing super hard. I mean, he ends up leading us in rebounds tonight, he had six. He led us in assists with seven. Shoot was three points away from - Sears had 21, Aaron had 18. I thought Aaron played great," said Oats. "That's how we need him to play. He led the team in plus/minus with plus-28 in the 31 minutes he was in the game. He won the hardhat. He had the most blue collar points by a long-shot. I thought he was great. You know what? He's liable to go five for six in first six shots in his next game. Offense comes and goes a little bit, that's why we've got to develop a defensive mindset around here and I thought he had a pretty good one here tonight."

Estrada broke out of the slump by doing the little things a basketball team needs in order to be successful. In the first half, when he shot less than 30 percent from the floor, he tallied five assists, with two offensive rebounds while getting to the free throw line four times for easy buckets. 

The second half looked like the player the Tide had come to know through the early part of the year as Estrada scored 10 points off 66-percent shooting and kept filling up the box score with three more rebounds, two more assists and a steal..

"I'll say just having confidence in myself. I've been playing basketball for a long time. I feel like every year, I feel like every player kind of goes through those couple games where they have their funks and they're not playing well and I just stayed with it honestly and my teammates pumped me up," said Estrada on his performance. 

Alabama was well balanced on Saturday night as all five starters scored in double-figures. Oats went with a four-guard lineup and it yielded dividends as Estrada, Mark Sears, Latrell Wrightsell and Rylan Griffen combined for 70 of the Tide's 109 points.

"We have so many guards. I think we have the best backcourt in the country if you ask me. So it's hard to stop all four of us from scoring and when you have four guards that can shoot the ball and I think a lot of us, if not all of us, are shooting 40-percent from 3. It's hard to guard a 40-percent and stop the ball getting to the basket too. So that's what makes our offense deadly," said Wrightsell after the game.

Oats has been adamant about starting games and second-halves better and sounded pleased on that end tonight. 

As the conference season wraps up the first third of year the Crimson Tide players are clearly getting more comfortable with their role on the team and on Saturday that was no more on display than with Estrada. 

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