No. 24 Alabama Basketball Defeats Indiana State for Second Win of Season

A second straight scoring outburst saw the Crimson Tide stay unbeaten.

The No. 24 Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Indiana State 102-80 to move to 2-0 on the season. The Crimson Tide shot 56% from the 3-point line and sent a message for the second game in a row that this year's Alabama team can score.

It was the second-straight contest the Crimson Tide eclipsed the 100-point mark, making it the first time since 1964-65 that Alabama's scored that highly in two straight games.

Alabama's Aaron Estrada led all scorers with 27, he was helped by Mark Sears with 24 and Grant Nelson who scored 20. 

"That's a good, quality win. That's a really good, very well coached team. We knew it was going to be that way. We knew it when we scheduled them. They were even better than I thought they were going to be when we scheduled them and for our guys to come out and start out 9-zip the wrong way, I thought our guys did a pretty good job of bouncing back, staying locked in and figuring out a way. Obviously it helps to get Aaron going, Aaron's been pretty good for us in practice. We had three guys score over 20. I thought that was pretty impressive," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. "Our defense was not good again, we've got to do a way better job on defense. Our rotation got shrunk a little bit from the last game, just from how tight the game was. We knew this team was going to be a lot better. And honestly they didn't have their best big, he sat out with an injury, so, we've got to continue to get better on defense."

The Crimson Tide looks to keep the season going on Tuesday as they play South Alabama in Coleman Coliseum at 7 p.m.

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How it happened...

Second Half: 

• Alabama finishes with a 102-80 victory over Indiana State to move to 2-0.
• Jarin Stevenson takes it strong to the rack as the game closes. He's shown that through games he not lost out there on a college court.
• Alabama scores 100 points in a game. It's the first time since 1964-65 that the Tide has scored 100 in back-to-back games, according to BamaCentrals's Blake Byler.
• The fans seem like they've had enough as a big contingent head for the exits during this under-four timeout. Alabama is up 94-76 and cruising to victory number two.
• The Crimson Tide has stretched it lead back out to 20-points, out rebounding the Sycamores 36-23 so far.
• Mark Sears flexes on the Sycamores defender as timeout is called with 5:38 left in the game. Sears just scored his 20th point of game. Alabama has three players with 20 or more now along with Aaron Estrada and Grand Nelson. 
• Aaron Estrada doesn't only score but he leads a beautiful break up the floor, finding Mohamed Wague for an easy dunk.
• Aaron Estrada stretches the Tide's lead back to 13 points with some nifty dribbling and a layup. Estrada now has 27-points. Alabama 80, Indiana State 67, 8:48 2H.
• Surely Coach Oats would like to have been pulling away by now. Alabama has forced the Sycamores into 10 team fouls in the second half and four players are teetering on the edge with four fouls each.
• This game has stayed "within reach" for Indiana State because they've made shots,  hustled and played good defense. 
• Grant Nelson follows his miss for an easy put-back. The Coleman faithful respond as the Sycamores take a timeout. Alabama 63, Indiana State 49. 15:08 2H.
• Alabama's hot shooting has continued. Mark Sears makes three to bring the Tide up to 11-17 from behind the line.
• Mark Sears makes for the second Alabama player in double-figures as he now has 12.
• This game has been interesting because the Tide has shown it clearly has some dudes capable of making one-on-one plays, but the flow of the offense has not been great from my amateur eyes. - Joe Gaither

Halftime: 

• Both teams have combined to shoot 60% from behind the 3-point line in the first half (17/28).
• Isaiah Swope was 4-of-5 for Indiana State
• Aaron Estrada was 5-of 7 for Alabama.
• Alabama has played eleven players in the game's first twenty minutes. Serving as a clear sign that Nate Oats is still experimenting with the lineup. 

1st Half

• Halftime: Alabama 48, Indiana State 37. Estrada leads all scorers with 22 points. Mark Sears is next with seven and Jarin Stevenson has six for Alabama.
• Alabama calls likely the last timeout of the half with just :24 remaining. Oats likely looking to stretch his nine-point lead back into double digits by halftime.
• Estrada gets to the rim and finishes through contact. The transferee makes his free throw and puts the Tide on top 42-33, 1:54 1H. He's up to 22 points in the game.  
• Grant Nelson goes into the locker room with a towel over his eye after a collision. Alabama 39, Indiana State 31, 3:46 1H.
• Wow - Alabama just had a really nice play on the offensive end. Mark Sears on a dribble drive found a cutting Grant Nelson. Nelson was being cut off and found Jarin Stevenson for a 3-pointer in the corner.
• Indiana State is shooting 73% from the three-point line. The Sycamores have made 8-11 from behind the arc.
• Grant Nelson blocks Swope out of bounds and we're in our under-eight timeout. Indiana State 28, Alabama 26 with 6:57 1H.
• Isaiah Swope is now 4-4 from the three-point line for Indiana State as he makes back-to-back and the Sycamores take a 28-26 lead.
• Alabama and Indiana State are still tight through 11 minutes of this game due to the Tide's inefficiency on the offensive end. Alabama's shot 40% and turned the ball over four times. Defensively the Sycamores are averaging 1 point per possession which is higher than Coach Nate Oats would like.
• Aaron Estrada is so dangerous because he can stroke it from deep and also attack the basket and mid-range very well. Great find for Oats out of the transfer portal.
• Latrell Wrightsell commits a big error, fouling a three-point shooter. The Sycamores will take three, free-throws after a break. Alabama 20, Indiana State 16. 11:15 1H.
• Mark Sears replaces Estrada who leaves after two free-throws made. He leads the game with 14 points. 
• Aaron Estrada makes another three-pointer. He leads all scorers with 12 points.
• Through seven minutes of game action Nate Oats has already used eleven players. 
• Davin Cosby comes in for Sam Walters.
• Mouhamed Dioubate enters from Ryan Griffen and Mohamed Wade enters for Jarin Stevenson.
• Aaron Estrada is now 3-4 from three-point line after getting a wide open pass from Wrightsell off a steal.
• Sam Walters and Latrell Wrightsell in for Mark Sears and Grant Nelson.
• Aaron Estrada gives the Tide its third three-point basket made and Alabama is now tied up with Indiana State 9-9. 15:08 1H
• Rylan Griffen gets the Tide on the board with a three-pointer of his own. 9-3 Indiana State. 16:55 1H
• Isaiah Swope makes another three for Indiana State. Jarin Stevenson becomes the first Alabama player off the bench, replaces Nick Pringle.
• Back-to-back three-pointers by Conwell gives the Sycamores a six-point lead.
• Indiana State opens the scoring with Ryan Conwell's 3-pointer from the top of the key. 
• By my estimate the crowd in Coleman is about 10% greater than it was on Monday. - Joe Gaither

1st Half

• Alabama's starters against Indiana State won't change from last game: Mark Sears, Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen, Grant Nelson and Nick Pringle.

• Freshman guard Kris Parker dressed out and warmed up before the game. He missed Monday's opener with an eye abrasion.