Takeaways from Alabama Basketball's Win Over LSU

Thoughts and observations from the Crimson Tide's explosive home win over the Tigers.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball moved to 6-1 in SEC play on Saturday night, following up its hard-fought win over Auburn with a dominating 109-88 win over LSU.

The win moved the Crimson Tide into sole possession of first place in the SEC standings, having a half-game lead over Tennessee, who sits at 5-1.

Here are my thoughts and takeaways from the game:

1. The best offense in program history.

Alabama set a program record on Saturday night, scoring at least 100 points in a game for the sixth time this season. The craziest part? It's only January, and Alabama still has a ton of games to go on the schedule.

"We should have eight [100 point games], to be honest," head coach Nate Oats joked after the game. "We had 99 against Oregon and 98 against Mercer."

It's time to start talking about this offense being the best in school history, if that wasn't already the case. 

After last night's game, Alabama reclaimed the No. 1 spot in offensive efficiency per KenPom, passing Purdue.

Perhaps the most impressive part about Alabama's 109 points against LSU was the fact that the Crimson Tide didn't even shoot the ball outrageously well. Alabama made 14 threes at a 41 percent clip, but that's actually down from the team's average at home this season, which hovers around 44 percent.

Despite not shooting the lights out, it seemed like Alabama could score at will every single time down the floor. All five Crimson Tide starters scored at least 12. Grant Nelson and Rylan Griffen had 12 apiece. Griffen, as we've seen over the last few games, has the capability to explode at any given moment, while Nelson has started to settle into his role, which I'll get more into later.

Mark Sears had a game-high 21 points, and once again showed his ability to take over a game with individual scoring runs. With about 10 minutes to go in the game, Sears had just eight points, and still by the end of the game led the team in scoring after he decided to flip a switch and score at will.

Latrell Wrightsell and Aaron Estrada had 19 and 18 points, respectively. Wrightsell continued the ridiculous heater he's been on since SEC play began, while Estrada, who'd been struggling with his confidence a little in recent games, shook off his struggles and started to get some of his swagger back with some crafty moves in the paint for a couple crowd-pleasing layups.

"I think we have the best backcourt in the country if you ask me," Wrightsell said.

In total, Alabama has a whopping six players shooting at least 36 percent from beyond the arc. The offensive firepower is so deep, it'd be hard to find a better, more explosive offense in the history of Alabama basketball. 

2. Oats not satisfied with the win.

Normally, 20-point wins are something to celebrate. But in a Nick Saban-esque postgame press conference, Oats seemed more upset about his team's effort on the defensive end than he seemed satisfied with the outcome of the game.

Alabama's 88 points given up to LSU were its second-highest in SEC play. The Tigers scored over 1.1 points per possession for the game, and shot nearly 40 percent from distance. 

"What kind of a team do we really want to be? Do we just want to outscore everybody? It worked tonight, it won't work every night," Oats said. "We're not locked into what the game plan is enough. [...] We've got a really talented offensive group but we're not gonna win a championship if we don't [lock in]."

During Oats' tenure, he's always had great offenses. His best teams, the ones that have won SEC championships, have been the ones that are stout on the defensive end. Both in 2023 and 2021, Alabama ranked No. 3 nationally in defensive efficiency. During the 2022 season, where Alabama went 9-9 in league played and got sent home in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the defense ranked No. 92.

This season, the defense currently sits at No. 66. Not as bad as the 2022 team, but not where it needs to be in Oats' eyes. When asked if this team has the makings of a championship team, Oats was clear that he still believes they can get there. 

"We're going to be in the mix," Oats said. "I do think this is a team that can win it, and we're going after it as hard as we can, but if we don't fix our defense and get main guys in the rotation that are playing heavy minutes that are as concerned with the defense as the offense, it's going to be really hard."

3. Nelson is finding his role.

A question many have asked over the course of this season is 'What is Grant Nelson supposed to be?' 

Before the season, he was billed as a versatile point-forward-type player who can finish at the rim, put the ball on the deck, shoot the three, and do a little bit of everything.

Obviously, that billing was a little overdone. Couple that with the fact that Nelson hit a major wall in terms of offensive confidence for about a month stretch, and fans were incredibly disappointed with the output from the highly-touted transfer.

But over the past few games, we're starting to see Nelson settle into what his role truly is, and how it benefits Alabama. 

The Crimson Tide doesn't need Nelson to be the flashy versatile point-forward. What Alabama needs is exactly what Nelson has been in the second have of Auburn and  against LSU — a solid big who can score it inside when needed, rebound the ball, play hard on defense, and make free throws.

In that simple role, Nelson has looked much more comfortable. He scored 12 points against LSU on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, a few of those shots coming on back-to-the-basket post ups, a nice extra dimension for Alabama to have in the offense. He also made all six of his free throws, continuing his run as one of the best free throw shooters in the conference. 

"He's been a lot better. We're playing him more minutes at the '5,' I think he's a lot more comfortable there," Oats said. "He's more aggressive, a little more physical, he makes free throws. [...] He's shooting less, which is probably a little better, means he's attacking downhill more."

For Alabama to be successful, Nelson doesn't have to be the player that shoots 15 3-point attempts, like he did in the Arizona game. If he stays aggressive attacking the rim, continues to rebound the ball and keeps improving his interior defense, he's trending to be the exact player Alabama needs him to be. 

See also:

BamaCentral Courtside: Alabama 109, LSU 88