Alabama squeaks by #12 LSU 70-67

[Jordan Harper]

Alabama went with a totally different starting lineup, which helped defensively, but got Alabama off to a slow start offensively. JQ had one of his best games recently coming off the bench scoring 17 points, albeit an inefficent 17 but looked more confident. Jaden Shackelford is the engine that makes this team go and you can't take him off the court. He scored 26 points and had huge bucket after huge bucket all game long. If Alabama wants to take that next step where they were earlier in the year, then guys like Keon Ellis (who had a solid 12 points) and Davison are going to have to step up. Davison struggled all game and it hurt the team, as well as Bediako. They are freshmen, but they're tough to play right now.

Alabama played better defense tonight, especially in the first half, but Tari Eason is the greatest basketball player to ever play so he had something to say about that. All in all, the effort was there in longer spurts tonight than recently, but late in the game it started letting up when Gaines (a 20% shooter) started hitting shots.

Alabama has two very winnable games against Missouri and Georgia next before facing murderers row with Baylor, Auburn and Kentucky after that. If Alabama can win the next two and atleast 1 of those 3 games then they should feel very good about themselves. They are now 4-1 in AP Top 25 games.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

That was a "TOUGH WIN," but damn, they had to squeak by with poor shooting at the end. When Shack attempted that under handed pass with 28 seconds left instead of dribbling until fouled is a lack of coaching. TOs, missed FTs, and missed 3s kept LSU alive and they took advantage of it. Oats still doesn't use timeouts effectively. Defense and rebounding were much better than previous efforts. Hopefully they can build off this win and get things turned around.

 

[frazor]

Alabama will beat Baylor and then lose by 37 at AU.

 

[frazor]

When Shack attempted that under handed pass with 28 seconds left instead of dribbling until fouled is a lack of coaching.

Lack of coaching? He's an upperclass guard. If he doesn't know the situation and the smart play right there as a 22 year old then by God he never will.

 

[pwestbro61]

Happy for the win but this team is extremely hard to watch. Just not a good shooting team and that most likely is not going to change this season. 0-15 from 3 in the second half. Tide was 270th in nation and 12th in SEC yet they just continue to bomb away. Those stats will be worse after tonight.
LSU was also without their starting point guard and lost another starter in first half.

 

[Sassy12]

You are correct….very hard to watch. I find I have to watch with one eye closed even inside the arena. For some reason this team is just so inconsistent. At times I think they have worked through the problem just to find they are back in this funk. At this point I don’t expect them to change for this season, so I will keep peeking through my hands in the second half.

 

[pfaud001]

So what if another team is a missing a player. We had Gary get injured. We don’t have Burnett. Teams play with who they got. That was a big win. Some need to be happy to beat good teams. That LSU is freaking good and we beat them.

 

[jpruitt27]

I just don’t understand at the end of games, needing free throws, how set plays are not run to get Ellis the ball every time time. He’s 89% from the line

 

[TideFever]

It wasn't pretty but I'll take any win right now.

It's a giant bonus that it was against Wade. 5 in a row putting his teams down with an L. It was almost satisfying to realize after the game that his tech likely gave us the point difference to win. He had a valid point in that the fouls were grossly one sided but neither side was exactly playing well.

On the radio it sounded like Oats really focused on the rebounding in practice and started the game with the threat of yanking anyone that didn't go hard after rebounds. Ellis sat very early for that. The first timeout he apparently tore into them pretty good about effort. Seemed to get some focus for a bit but it didn't stick for the duration of the game but they got after it late when it had to happen.

Its becoming more clear with each game that this team has a pretty low ceiling until JD figures it out and JQ finds his shot again. Even though JD started tonight he looked rough at times.

Next two games might not be gotta have wins but if we don't win both then we'll feel like we're fighting up hill the rest of the season.

 

[BamaLegacy]

JD Davison is basically like a 6’ tall Gerald Wallace (when he was a freshman at UA) at this point…good build, great hops, bad basketball player.

Like Wallace, JD can get better, but it seems pretty clear he has been such a superior athlete against prior competition that he hasn’t developed his ball skills.

Bama needs more efficient play from just about everyone though.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

Lack of coaching? He's an upperclass guard. If he doesn't know the situation and the smart play right there as a 22 year old then by God he never will.

Yes, he should already know, but it does not hurt for the coach to remind players what to do from time to time. Shack being an "upperclassman" is irrelevant if the knowledge isn't already instilled in the player. He should have learned that in junior high and definitely in high school. Just like football teams practice the two-minute drill, bb teams should do the same. You don't wait until the player is getting ready to accept his diploma before you tell them last minute instructions on how to run the clock out. You get them coming in the door as freshmen.

 

[anon_z8qxv7qt5719f]

Some of you guys need to try playing both ways on the court and hustling as much as you can for almost an entire game. Sometimes, you look up and your body acts on reaction when see someone that you think may be open and you make a bad decision from fatigue. Your shots aren't falling and confidence transfers from one side of the court to the other. A hard fought win is something that we can build from! RTR!

 

[jtr4dad]

So what if another team is a missing a player. We had Gary get injured. We don’t have Burnett. Teams play with who they got. That was a big win. Some need to be happy to beat good teams. That LSU is freaking good and we beat them.

I'm happy with a win. We can't take those for granted with the way we've been playing since the Houston game. It's also fair to point out that we were very fortunate that LSU was without their starting point guard and that their best player and team leader was injured before halftime and didn't return. We were also very fortunate that Tennessee was without their two best players when we played them. Florida was coming off an extended Covid pause and seemed to run out of gas in the second half of our game after leading at halftime. We have caught some breaks in each of our 3 conference wins.

 

[BIGRON930]

Alabama will beat Baylor and then lose by 37 at AU.

Can't say that won't happen.

 

[jtr4dad]

Alabama will beat Baylor and then lose by 37 at AU.

We won't beat Baylor, but your other scenario is, unfortunately, quite possible.

 

[rsaxoniii]

I don't ever remember thinking this but I think the refs gave us one.

 

[Bama Swoosh]

Enjoy the postgame threads.

Agreed that it was ugly, but absolutely will take the win. Like the poster above, beating Will Wade 5 times in a row is especially sweet. That guy is a cheater, a sore loser, and a-hole, and probably will get federally indicted for a ponzi scheme in the next five years. He flagrantly cheats, everyone knows it, but in this day and age I guess the wheels on the bus just keep churning round and round anyway. I hope there are things like laws and rules again one day.

I still think the ceiling for this team is really high. It all depends on their confidence and getting their mojo back. No way just any team can go into Seattle and soundly beat the Zags. We have players. Such as vs the Zags, Bediako blocked 6 shots against studs and had several really nice alley-oop dunks that required coordination from a big man. Last night he couldn't complete a wide-open straightforward dunk. JD hit four treys against the Zags, yet I haven't believed any of his threes are going in for about two weeks. The whole team is missing FTs and went 0-15 on threes in the 2nd half. I'm not sure how we won the game, but glad we did.

Oats is absolutely right - we need to find our swagger again. We have no rhythm, no confidence on offense. I wonder if instead of re-watching SEC games where we've struggled, maybe the team needs to watch the game against the Zags again and go "oh yeah, we CAN do that."

I don't know if they'll snap back to good form or not, but believe we have enough to be a really dangerous team when we are hitting on all cylinders. Easy to nitpick a bunch of things right now, but mostly I feel like we just need our confidence back and start draining our shots. Glad it's a long season and hopefully we find our mojo vs Mizzou and UGA, and then play lights out during the Baylor-Allbarn-UK stretch and win a few of those. We shall see.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

I don't ever remember thinking this but I think the refs gave us one.

Yep! There was definitely some home cooking with extra helpings.

 

[BeastofBourbon]

I don't ever remember thinking this but I think the refs gave us one.

I have to admit this is the first in a long time I can remember thinking calls were favoring our way. It was almost the kind of treatment UK gets in Rupp.

 

[pfaud001]

We deserve some calls. We never get them. Wade should have been thrown out for how aggressively he came at the ref.

 

[Codie B]

JD Davison is basically like a 6’ tall Gerald Wallace (when he was a freshman at UA) at this point…good build, great hops, bad basketball player.

Like Wallace, JD can get better, but it seems pretty clear he has been such a superior athlete against prior competition that he hasn’t developed his ball skills.

Bama needs more efficient play from just about everyone though.

I agree. You and I have similar thoughts on a lot of things related to our BB team. I have always thought you really know your BB, but I have to question that now a little bit since we agree on so much 😂.

 

[BIGRON930]

Exactly right. Wade made those refs look like biotches. I couldn't believe they tolerated all that nonsense. He rants around pissed off about literally every single call all game long.

We deserve some calls. We never get them. Wade should have been thrown out for how aggressively he came at the refs.

 

[winin11]

Not sure what calls you guys are referring to, but I was at the game and near the baseline across from the student section.
Didnt see any “gift” calls.
Oats and staff worked hard with the team on cutting all the reach in and dumb fouls that has plagued this team all year.
Also worked on limiting turnovers.
Both of those things really paid off last night and we out rebounded LSU by a wide margin.
However ugly you guys think the game was also looked better and better if you consider those fouls, turnovers and rebounding.

 

[T I G E R]

We deserve some calls. We never get them. Wade should have been thrown out for how aggressively he came at the ref.

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the court.

 

[BamaTexan]

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the court.

When you play the “matador” defense as Bama does, you keep the foul count down.

 

[BIGRON930]

Its about time. Everybody else get that treatment at home. Looking at you Vandy.

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the courts

 

[D Isaiah T Billings-Clyde7]

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the court.

You gotta attempt to guard people to get fouls lol. Auburn isn’t exactly the foul drawingest team around

 

[tomg505]

Enjoy the postgame threOats is absolutely right - we need to find our swagger again. We have no rhythm, no confidence on offense.

Oats is doing what he can. But to take JQ off the court for spark in the future and replacing with JD who has less experience, presence and makes less baskets but more turnovers does not seem like "a fix" to me.

 

[pfaud001]

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the court.

Maybe this year, Bama is getting some. Most years, we don’t. I do think refs hate Wade. He complains about everything. So does Pearl, but he doesn’t seem to get on the refs nerves as much.

 

[anon_z8qxv7qt5719f]

Oats is doing what he can. But to take JQ off the court for spark in the future and replacing with JD who has less experience, presence and makes less baskets but more turnovers does not seem like "a fix" to me.

JQ requested to come off the bench like he did last year because it put him in a comfort zone. He’s trying to work on his own psyche!

 

[T I G E R]

Maybe this year, Bama is getting some. Most years, we don’t. I do think refs hate Wade. He complains about everything. So does Pearl, but he doesn’t seem to get on the refs nerves as much.

do you think oats doesn’t work the refs?

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

Maybe this year, Bama is getting some. Most years, we don’t. I do think refs hate Wade. He complains about everything. So does Pearl, but he doesn’t seem to get on the refs nerves as much.

No, Pearl just works my nerves. The camera shows more of Pearl's side-court antics than the game. I believe they have a timer to see how long it takes him to sweat through his clothing.

 

[pfaud001]

do you think oats doesn’t work the refs?

Absolutely. I am glad for it. Grant just let calls go against all the time. Oats gets more technicals than I have ever seen a coach get. They will get tired of him, too.

 

[uagolffan]

the fouls were 24-10 bama. when auburn came to coleman a few weeks ago, it was 24-15 before bama fouled to extend the game (ended 24-18 with 3 fouls the last 26 seconds).

that’s a 48 to 28 foul count.

if y’all do start getting calls, other teams won’t be able to put five on the court.

That’s what we’re hoping for