No. 6 Alabama avoided a major disaster on the road on Wednesday, narrowly escaping North Dakota with a 97-90 win over the Fighting Hawks.
The Crimson Tide started off the game sloppy but dialed it in for the second half to hold off a gutsy, 40-point performance from North Dakota's Treysen Eaglestaff.
Here are a few takeaways from the game.
Nelson’s Homecoming
Nelson returned to his home state where he played the first three years of his college career and delivered a stellar performance. Nelson recorded a double-double, leading the Crimson Tide in scoring with 23 points and rebounds with 10. Fittingly, Nelson’s play down the stretch helped preserve the victory for Alabama as he hit two free throws to put the Crimson Tide up four with 90 seconds left.
No Answer for Eaglestaff
North Dakota’s Eaglestaff was a thorn in Alabama’s side all night long. The Summit League’s leading scorer lit the Alabama defense up for a career-high 40 points, coming just short of pulling off a major upset. One of the nation’s best three-point shooters did just that on Wednesday, hitting eight three-pointers against the Crimson Tide.
Turnover Trouble
The Crimson Tide started the game off with an ugly first half, turning the ball over 13 times. As a result, they were unable to get in a rhythm offensively and found themselves down 38-35 to North Dakota at halftime. Alabama was able to fix its turnover issues in the second half, only turning the ball over once. The Crimson Tide finished with a total of 14 turnovers that North Dakota was only able to capitalize on for 11 points.
Deep Bench
Nate Oats once again tried a different starting lineup combination on Wednesday. Oats is still in the process of trying to figure out the correct rotations and starting lineup combinations before SEC play starts. One thing that is certain is Alabama is a deep team that doesn’t lack scoring when the bench players enter the game. Alabama’s bench once again was a huge key to their success, outscoring North Dakota 42-26.
Alabama will host Kent State on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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