Alabama Dominates Ole Miss 97-83

[Jordan Harper]

The negative Nancys will have to look away another game, because this game was all Alabama after a rough 10 minute start. Alabama started out down 30-19, but closed the 1st half on a 30-8 run.

I have been trying to tell you guys that we have capable shooters. We saw it last year. We saw it earlier this season. It’s just disappeared throughout the year. They made 14/22 tonight and that’s more of what we’ve come to see the past couple years. The attempts were low, but Alabama got whatever they wanted against Ole Miss.

Shack scored a career high 30, JD played one of his best games scoring 18 with 8 assists, and multiple others scored 7+. One guy I was to touch on is Jusuan Holt. When Alabama was struggling defensively, Oats out in Holt who is a guy that locks down on defense and does the little things. He proved to be huge being a +26 while only scoring 2 points. The ball movement was great, the guards were getting downhill, and creating for others. Now defensively it was not good, but give credit to Ole Miss for knocking down a lot of shots from everywhere. They just have to be better before Arkansas comes to town Saturday.

This was a get right game tonight for Alabama, and it looks like it worked. Winning 1 of the next 2 would be huge for this team heading into a date at Rupp. If they start hitting from outside, they could go on a run to end the season.

 

[OatsMeal]

I really hope JD continues to play this confident/aggressive. We need that badly

 

[michael1965]

I’m just glad CNO learned how to coach in the past week!

 

[TideFever]

We needed this win.

Some were downplaying how much losing it might hurt us but IMO our tournament hopes would then be hanging on winning some games that maybe aren't good set ups for us to win. Like Rupp or even red stick if they sort out their own slump. Even Vandy won't be the push over we'd prefer to believe. So an L tonight would have been brutal. Beyond the basic wins and losses aspect a loss tonight could have pushed us over a cliff mentally. This looked like a very weary team in the last few minutes of the UK game.

Its been said a few times but this is just a different team when JD is playing well. Shack had a great game but when JD opened up and played at a higher level the whole team stepped up their game and parts of the court just seemed to be wide open. JD was on the court when we started our big run in the first half and his proverbial +/- must have been crazy + tonight.

The 3 point shots he took he didn't hesitate and shuffle his feet like he was trying to get the perfect base for his shot before letting it rip. Tonight he just decided to shoot and let it rip. When he went to the rim he didn't stand there 5 seconds waiting to be sure he wanted to try it. He just leaned in and took the ball to the goal. It also helped that Miss didn't have a true guard to get in his face. At least not a heel biting one that's going to chase him close.
He'll have to elevate some more against the hogs if we're going to win that one at home.

Generally I didn't think we played as well tonight as we did against UK but for one thing, tonight we saw a lot of open shots go down. We saw almost none of that against UK even with wide open looks. We gave up a lot of wide open shots and easy baskets tonight and Miss could have scored 90 on us tonight but it was hidden by us scorching the nets ourselves. We need to somehow marry our better defensive efforts and making shots. We won't simply outscore the hogs like we did Miss tonight.

 

[AEMotivates]

Where are all the whiners and complainers?

 

[jd82tide]

I've been critical of JD being a turnover machine afraid to shoot outside shot. He was excellent last night and a huge reason why we won. Hope he keeps that energy and stays hot. Makes us a very good team when he can come off the bench and provide that spark. RTR.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

Q: If Holt is that great of a defender, why in hell hasn't he been used before last night? Kudos to the team's performance last night. OM was shooting out of their collective minds (especially #24) and the Tide's offense finally kicked it in gear and exploded. Let's see if Bama can replicate that intensity and explosiveness on Saturday against the piggies.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Q: If Holt is that great of a defender, why in hell hasn't he been used before last night? Kudos to the team's performance last night. OM was shooting out of their collective minds (especially #24) and the Tide's offense finally kicked it in gear and exploded. Let's see if Bama can replicate that intensity and explosiveness on Saturday against the piggies.

I think Oats doesn’t like to play guys who aren’t really offensive threats. We need to keep playing Holt though… he’s a beast. And supposedly he’s a dead on shooter (I know we’ve yet to see it)

 

[michael1965]

Jusuan said last night that he was just now feeling comfortable playing SEC ball. He has played some in all our recent games but appearEd to lack confidence . That changed last night. Really good defender,good around the rim.

 

[Bama Swoosh]

Following this bracket matrix site, which compiles all the "bracketology" sites and we were the top 6-seed in the NCAA tournament prior to this game vs. Ole Miss. Made me feel better even before I watched us pound OM.

I get Holt's +/- was awesome, which I guess is the main thing, but I also hardly noticed him. I guess that's good in a way in the sense that he played a lot of minutes with no TOs. Hopefully he can find his offense. I can see that it may help to have a guy that even if he's not a big scoring threat, plays D and kind of calms the team down, and maybe helps chemistry knowing he's not looking to launch a 3 every time he touches the ball.

Agree with the post above that I thought we played better vs UK for major stretches, but in this one Shack and Co. just burned it up. Frustrating that half that level would have brought us the win over the Wildcats.

At this point I wonder why Gurley isn't playing more. I think there are games where Bediako's length makes him important, but if we aren't playing a Kessler or some giant, Gurley could easily become a 15 ppg guy. He certainly gives us a big that can shoot. His misses vs UK were in and out, and his shot looks consistent.

Agreed with others that if JD can play anything like he did in Oxford, we're a different team. I also know OM is playing short and dealing with so many injuries, so that helped. With the threes falling, JD and JQ could rip 'em up on the drives.

Hopefully Oats can find some rotations that work well, and it will help a lot of Holt and Gurley can become plus players along with the others finding consistency.

I really believe we'll beat Ark on Sat. Roll Tide

 

[BeastofBourbon]

Following this bracket matrix site, which compiles all the "bracketology" sites and we were the top 6-seed in the NCAA tournament prior to this game vs. Ole Miss. Made me feel better even before I watched us pound OM.

I get Holt's +/- was awesome, which I guess is the main thing, but I also hardly noticed him. I guess that's good in a way in the sense that he played a lot of minutes with no TOs. Hopefully he can find his offense. I can see that it may help to have a guy that even if he's not a big scoring threat, plays D and kind of calms the team down, and maybe helps chemistry knowing he's not looking to launch a 3 every time he touches the ball.

Agree with the post above that I thought we played better vs UK for major stretches, but in this one Shack and Co. just burned it up. Frustrating that half that level would have brought us the win over the Wildcats.

At this point I wonder why Gurley isn't playing more. I think there are games where Bediako's length makes him important, but if we aren't playing a Kessler or some giant, Gurley could easily become a 15 ppg guy. He certainly gives us a big that can shoot. His misses vs UK were in and out, and his shot looks consistent.

Agreed with others that if JD can play anything like he did in Oxford, we're a different team. I also know OM is playing short and dealing with so many injuries, so that helped. With the threes falling, JD and JQ could rip 'em up on the drives.

Hopefully Oats can find some rotations that work well, and it will help a lot of Holt and Gurley can become plus players along with the others finding consistency.

I really believe we'll beat Ark on Sat. Roll Tide

Even with all our shooting woes prior to last nights game, I think defense has been a bigger problem for us. We were still averaging high 70's to low 80's per game, but still losing those games. If Holt can provide a spark on defense, I'm willing to sacrifice what he lacks on the offensive end. Ultimately I think it's going to be defense that turns things around for us.

 

[BIGRON930]

Sometimes you don't notice things bc they didn't happen. Did you notice Ole Miss getting over on us in the 2nd half inside? No. Did you notice us failing to close on corner 3 point shooters? No. Did you notice us giving up a pile of offensive rebounds? No. Holt and Gurley were legit down low.

 

[BIGRON930]

When JD is on and we get a couple of guys out of Holt, Gary, Gurley, Miles, Ellis, etc., really show up we are tough. Throw in Angry Chuck, and we can beat anybody. If we don't get any of that, we can lose to anybody.

 

[BeastofBourbon]

When JD is on and we get a couple of guys out of Holt, Gary, Gurley, Miles, Ellis, etc., really show up we are tough. Throw in Angry Chuck, and we can beat anybody. If we don't get any of that, we can lose to anybody.

Call me crazy, but what I saw from Holt last night I'd give him all of Miles minutes.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Call me crazy, but what I saw from Holt last night I'd give him all of Miles minutes.

Not crazy. Couldn’t agree more

 

[BIGRON930]

If we can get the real Keon back, we're right back where we were in March 2021. Also need JQ to continue to get better. I actually want to see him pulling up on those 23 footers he thinks about but passes up now. SHOOT IT!

 

[rgray34]

Can't understand why our mods can't put nothing about the basketball team on the Headlines. First of the year they gave info on how to watch the game and at least gave a little to entice u to go to the basketball forum. It's it not football which I love more than anything every other sport gets back handed type coverage.

 

[G.O.A.T-23]

Glad to get the win but let’s be honest, this is a subpar Ole Miss team playing without a couple players.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Glad to get the win but let’s be honest, this is a subpar Ole Miss team playing without a couple players.

And let’s be more honest: they got their far and away best player back just in time for us

 

[G.O.A.T-23]

And let’s be more honest: they got their far and away best player back just in time for us

I am more than pleased with the win; having lost to the likes of UGA and Mizzou, these types of wins are far from a guarantee for this team this year. But I am also not going to pretend this was a good team they beat.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

And let’s be more honest: they got their far and away best player back just in time for us

Yep! He blistered our azzes for 33 pts.

 

[bamaboy371444]

Does anyone know what quad this win was?

 

[onebamamaniax]

@bamaboy371444 , quad 2

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

I am more than pleased with the win; having lost to the likes of UGA and Mizzou, these types of wins are far from a guarantee for this team this year. But I am also not going to pretend this was a good team they beat.

Let’s see how ole miss fares the rest of the way

 

[bamaboy371444]

@bamaboy371444 , quad 2

Thanks