Three Takeaways From Alabama's Hard-Fought Win Over Creighton

The Crimson Tide took down the Bluejays in the final game of the gauntlet stretch on the schedule.
Alabama point guard Marks Sears vs. Creighton
Alabama point guard Marks Sears vs. Creighton / Obtained from Alabama Men's Basketball's X/Twitter
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— No. 7 Alabama men's basketball took down Creighton 83-75 on Saturday night in its first home game in over a month.

The Crimson Tide grabbed a 17-point lead early, but Creighton constantly found ways to keep the game from being blown open and out of reach.

There's so much to dissect from this matchup at Coleman Coliseum. Here are three takeaways:

The Obvious Defensive Game Plan

Simply put, coming into this game, Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner has been and still is widely regarded as one of the best bigs in the country. For reference, Kalkbrenner was ranked as the No. 8 player in ESPN's annual preseason top 100. Through nine games, Kalkbrenner leads the Big East in rebounds (8.4) and blocks (2.6) per game and is No. 3 in the conference in scoring with 17.3 points per game.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during Friday's press conference that two-time All-Big Ten Defensive Team and Rutgers transfer center Clifford Omoruyi would "have to step up to the challenge and play a little bit better" ahead of the matchup against Kalkbrenner. Additionally, Oats said if there needs to be options for Alabama if Omoruyi fails, "whether it be another matchup, whether it be doubles," Aiden Sherrell and Grant Nelson would have to help.

Creighton's 7-foot-1 star finished with 18 points on an efficient 8-of-13 from the field, but Omoruyi, Sherrell and Nelson did a nice job of forcing Kalkbrenner to take tough shots or pass up the ball fairly often in his 36 minutes on the floor.

Kalkbrenner was often the wide receiver to Creighton point guard Steven Ashworth's quarterback as the two connected for alley-oops and lob passes in the post on multiple occasions, but Omoruyi often did a nice job of making sure that pass didn't reach Kalkbrenner's hands as he was aggressive down low. The same could be said for Sherrell and Nelson.

As previously stated, Kalkbrenner played 36 of the games 40 minutes. Instead of making Omoruyi the central focus in defending Kalkbrenner, Oats utilized a method of fresh legs to keep the bigs energized, while the Creighton giant slowed down. Omoruyi and Nelson each played 25 minutes while Sherrell made the most of his 10 as a defender.

"We wanted to keep Cliff fresh," Oats said during the postgame press conference. "I thought Aiden was the next best guy to put on Kalkbrenner...I thought he did a decent job defensively on Kalkbrenner, which is what we wanted."

The Lone Shooter

Since Oats' arrival in 2019, Alabama basketball has quickly grown to one of the sport's top programs. This was heavily due to Oats' extremely fast-paced play style that heavily involves taking shots from behind the three-point line. For example, the Crimson Tide led all of Division I in points per game last season due to the nonstop conversions from behind the arc.

However, this wasn't the case on Saturday night as Alabama went a disparaging 6-of-30 from downtown, resulting in just a 20 percent clip. This was a big reason, perhaps the main factor in the Tide's inability to pull away and seal a comfortable victory long before the final buzzer.

That said, one Alabama player who boosted these numbers from being shockingly low was Preseason All-American guard Mark Sears, who turned in his best game of the season after shooting 8-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc, plus a 7-of-8 clip from the free-throw line which led to a season-high 27 points. Sears also won tonight's Hard Hat after tallying the most blue-collar points.

"He got really locked into just playing hard, playing the right way, doing the right things, and now all of a sudden he's got his best shooting night, highest scoring output, he's getting to the rim, makes free throws–– just lost himself in the game tonight playing the right way," Oats said. "This is the best game we've seen out of him since the season started."

Nevertheless, the team three-point percentage will have to improve, but it may not be a DEFCON 1 must-fix based on Alabama's other way of putting the ball in the basket on Saturday night.

The Fresh(men) Scoring Alternative

Alabama added four freshmen to its 2024 class (including redshirt Naas Cunningham), and not only have guard Labaron Philon and forward Derrion Reid stood out among the Tide's youngest players and incoming transfers, but the entire team as well. Saturday night furthered that narrative.

When the threes weren't falling, Philon found ways to slither inside and convert highlight-level layups, while also showcasing his ability to consistently sink floaters over Creighton bigs, including 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner. Philon's 16 points on 7-of-11 from the field helped him achieve double figures in his fifth non-conference game of the season. In other words, the college basketball world is getting to know Philon very quickly.

Reid was also efficient on the interior, as he dropped 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The former five-star recruit and McDonald's All-American had multiple occasions where executed on the fastbreak with thunderous dunks and momentum-shifting buckets. In fact, he helped lead Alabama in these quick possession changes with his two-way abilities, as the Crimson Tide tallied 12 fastbreak points compared to Creighton's two.

"We only had three guys in double-figure scoring and two of them were freshmen––Derrion and Labaron," Oats said. "They’re going to make some mistakes on the defensive end, and you just got to keep teaching them and getting better. But I think their intensity, their effort, their want to is at a really high level, and that goes a long way. So I’m proud of both those guys tonight.”

Sherrell, another Alabama freshman also played a key role in Alabama's scoring, but he did so on the offensive glass. The fellow McDonald's All-American hauled in five of the Tide's 17 offensive rebounds compared to Creighton's five. This led to 14 second-chance points, but it definitely could've been more.

“It was the old Moses Malone where you just keep tipping your own miss and keep missing," Oats said. He had five offensive rebounds. I don’t know if all five of those came off his own misses, but you get a lot of shot attempts when you just keep jumping and missing the tip-ins."

Alabama returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 18 as they'll travel to North Dakota to take on the Fighting Hawks in forward Grant Nelson's backyard at 8 p.m. CT.

Read More: BamaCentral Courtside: Alabama 83, Creighton 75


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Hunter De Siver
HUNTER DE SIVER

Hunter De Siver is the lead basketball writer for BamaCentral and has covered Crimson Tide football since 2024. He previously distributed stories about the NFL and NBA for On SI and was a staff writer for Missouri Tigers On SI and Cowbell Corner. Before that, Hunter generated articles highlighting Crimson Tide products in the NFL and NBA for BamaCentral as an intern in 2022 and 2023. Hunter is a graduate from the University of Alabama, earning a degree in sports media in 2023