Alabama Destory’s Yale 102-78

The 14th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide hosted the Yale Bulldogs in their last non conference game of the regular season on Monday night. The Tide started fast and ran past the Bulldogs 102-78 to improve to 10-3 on the season. Yale fell to 11-2 with the loss. Bama will start SEC play at home against Kentucky Saturday in an 11 am CT game that will be televised on ESPN. The Tide went over the century mark for the fifth time this season and 35th time in coach Nate Oats seven seasons.

The Tide was without their best player, Labaron Philon, who sat out with a thigh injury. Also missing was London Jemison, Davion Hannah, and Collins Onyejiaka. Bama has not had a single game this season with all players available. Oats sent out a starting lineup of Aden Holloway, Amari Allen, Houston Mallette, Taylor Bol Bowen, and Aiden Sherrell.

After Yale opened the scoring with a three pointer the Tide countered with long range jumpers by Mallette and Holloway to take a 6-3 lead and Bama never trailed again in the game. Allen added one from behind the arc and little used and much maligned Noah Williamson made his first three pointer of his Alabama career for a 12-4 Tide lead. In two minutes of play Williamson was able to pick up three personal fouls.

The Tide continued to stay hot from behind the arc with Latrell Wrightsell, Jalil Bethea, and Bol Bowen joined in the long distance parade. When Allen drilled another three right before the half the lead had ballooned to 55-31 at the break.

Alabama shot 19-38 for 50% in the half with 11-26 from three for 42% and made 6-8 free throws for 75%. The Tide dominated the glass with 28 rebounds, 10 of which were on the offensive end. Bama moved the ball well with 11 assists against only three turnovers, blocked one shot and had two steals. Allen led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds with one assist ans one steal. Holloway scored 10 points and dished out five assists as he took over at the point with the absence of Philon. Bethea score eight and Bol Bowen tied Allen for the rebound lead with seven of his own.

Yale made 11-32 shots for 34% with 6-15 from deep for 40%. The Dogs were only 3-7 at the charity stripe, totaled only 14 rebounds, had six assists, two steals, and turned it over three times. Nick Townsend scored 11 to lead the visitors.
Bama used the same starting lineup for the second half. Holloway struck from distance at the 18:35 mark for a 58-35 lead and followed up with two more from behind the arc to push the lead to 68-52 with 15:30 left in the game. Wrightsell connected for a pair from three, Bethea added another and Sherrell drained one of his own. When Bol Bowen hit another three Bama led 90-55 with 7:20 left in the game. From that point on the Bulldogs outscored the Tide 23-12 to pull within 102-78 at the end of the game. Much of the damage was done at the free throw line.

In the second half Alabama shot 15-39 for 38%, 11-28 from three for 39%, and 6-8 at the free throw line. Overall the Tide finished 34-77 for 44%, 22-54 (54!!) from three for 41% and 12-16 for 75% at the free throw line. The team grabbed 46 rebounds, 21 offensively, dished out 22 assists, had five blocks, four steals, and only five turnovers.
Holloway handled the point guard duties with aplomb, scoring 26 points on 9-15 shooting including 5-10 from three point range and added seven assists with one steal and no turnovers. Allen won the hard hat award and finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Wrightsell scored 15 points, going 5-15 from behind the arc and added three rebounds and three assists. Bethea had 15 of his on, on only seven shots. Mallette was 4-9 from deep and scored 12 points. Bowl Bowen scored five and added nine rebounds, Sherrell scored nine, rebounded six, and blocked on shot.

The Bulldogs improved to 14-31 for 45%, 3-8 from three for 38%, and 16-19 from free throws in the half. Overall Yale finished 25-63 for 39%, 9-23 from deep for 39%, and 19-26 on free shots for 73%. The Dogs ended with 38 rebounds with 14 offensively, 10 assists, one block, two steals, and committed eight turnovers. Townsend led the team with 18 points and added seven rebounds. Isaac Celiscar scored 17 points and Riley Fox added 12.

No Philon, no problem. Holloway filled in nicely running the team and had an outstanding game. Oats has been pounding on the team about rebounding, and the team did better in that regard tonight, especially in the first half. To finish 10-3 in ““preseason” with the toughest schedule in the country is nothing to sneeze at. Bama beat all the teams they were supposed to beat, losing only to Purdue- when they were number one, Gonzaga when the were ranked 10th, and Arizona who was number one at the time. St John’s was 5th in the country when the Tide beat them, Illinois was 8th when Bama took them down, and Clemson, Maryland, and UNLV were all good wins. Alabama needs to figure out how to get healthy and stay healthy. Whether it is practicing too hard or a training staff problem there seems to be an obscene amount of injuries over the past several years. A big majority have been lower extremities- which is common for the sport- ankles, feet, and some knees. On top of that Hannah and Onyejiaka have been out with medical conditions. Most games Oats has had just nine of his 13 scholarship players available. Fortunately this team has quality depth – for the most part- and have been able to weather the injury and sickness bug. As SEC play starts the Tide needs to get, and stay healthy.

Next up: Saturday the Kentucky Wildcats come to town for an 11 a.m. CT game that will be shown on ESPN as their feature game. Oats says he is leaning toward Philon and Jemison being available to play. Philon is one of the best players in the country and he will be needed for conference play.

Roll Tide