On Monday night, the Crimson Tide basketball team moved to 6-2 for the season with an 89-65 win over Arkansas State and former Alabama assistant Bryan Hodgson.
Arkansas State scored first, but Alabama answered with a 12-0 run and never looked back.
Here are four key takeaways from the game.
Alabama took advantage of turnovers
Alabama’s defense showed big energy Monday night. Nate Oats has been urging his players to step it up on defense, and they did just that. The Crimson Tide forced 15 Arkansas State turnovers, which they capitalized into 27 points.
Length too much for Arkansas State
The size and athleticism of Alabama was just too much for the Red Wolves. The length caused the Arkansas State shooters problems. Alabama held Arkansas State to just 34% shooting from the field. Alabama also limited the Red Wolves’ three-point shooting, holding them to 6-for-30 on three-point attempts.
Three-point shooting was great
Alabama was able to facilitate the ball to the open shooter for most of the night. As a result, the Crimson Tide shot 42% from behind the arc against the Red Wolves. The Crimson Tide tied their season-high mark for three-pointers by draining 13 of their 31 attempts.
Quality bench production
In a game that Alabama kept out of reach from their opponent, Nate Oats was able to utilize more of his bench players. Alabama’s bench scored 33 points, led by a couple of freshmen. Jarin Stevenson led all bench scorers with 13 points, with Davin Cosby Jr. chipping in nine points off a team-high three three-pointers.
Next up for Alabama is a trip to Toronto, Canada, to face No. 4 Purdue on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 12:30 p.m. CT.
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