Alabama men’s basketball was given a tall task to start the season.
After a seemingly walk in the park against North Dakota, the Crimson Tide were faced with back-to-back matchups against top-five programs.
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First was fifth-ranked St. John’s in Madison Square Garden, and just last night, it was second-ranked Purdue at Coleman Coliseum.
The Tide walked away from New York City with a hard-nosed win, but Purdue wasn’t having any of it, as the Boilermakers came out with an 87-80 win.
And in that loss for the Tide, there were a number of observations that we came away with, both positive and negative.
Some players just look the part. Aden Holloway not only looks it, but he performs like it.
Sure, he can hold onto the ball too much at times, but the way that not only he, but Labaron Philon as well, can put the ball on a string and maneuver themselves in any which way is nothing short of impressive.
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Holloway started the game as a marksman. He drained four 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes, but then ran cold from deep afterwards, only making one more 3 the rest of the game.
Perhaps that’s one part of his game that he needs to improve on. Because as far as talent goes, there’s a short list of players that can actually hang with him in terms of ball-handling and shot making.
But the consistency is what can hamper him.
It was alarming at how easily the Boilermakers were dominating the glass over the Crimson Tide.
You can argue that Bama lost last night solely because of its poor rebounding.
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Purdue smothered the Tide on the glass, out rebounding them 48-23, which includes a drastic 17-8 discrepancy on the offensive glass as well.
The latter part is where the biggest concern lies.
Purdue outscored Alabama on second chance points 16-7, and when you’re essentially rewarding your opponent for missing shots, you’re going to lose more than half the time.
The Boilermakers just had more jump to their game, and played more hungry. That doesn’t mean that the Tide weren’t hungry, but Purdue just wanted it more, and coach Matt Painter did an admirable job firing up his guys.
Alabama loves to play fast paced, and chuck up as many 3-pointers as possible.
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That’s great.
The game is getting faster, and more players have become more of a perennial threat from the perimeter these days.
But is too much of a good thing, actually bad?
For as good of a coach Nate Oats is, there always seems to be a lack of discipline. And maybe that’s why there are games that seem like it should be a win, but the Tide get in their own way.
Sometimes when games get too erratic, and the Tide’s opponents start taking over the game, Oats opts to speed the game up instead of slow it down.
Many times in last night’s game, you can see where Purdue was starting to pull away, and the one answer for that was to take the ball up the court and chuck up a 3-pointer as fast as possible in hopes to shrink the deficit.
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That may sound good in theory, but basketball is like chess, not checkers.
No matter how effective a 3-pointer can be, the risk vs. reward leans heavily on the risk, especially when you rush it.
It’s been an issue for as long as Oats has been coach, and the one thing that will ultimately prevent the Tide from any sustained success.
