5 things to know about the Alabama Crimson Tide

On3 imageby:Brett Bibbins01/12/21

1. Balanced scoring attack

One of the aspects that makes the Alabama Crimson Tide a tough beat this season is that they have so many different offensive weapons. Alabama has four players averaging at least 12.4 points per game and they’ve already had six different leading scorers in only twelve games. Their balanced scoring output is a result of multiple players getting up a high volume of total shots, as four players have attempted at least 98 field goals a piece. To compare, Kentucky has just one player who has attempted that amount, and no one else is anywhere close to the top spot. Alabama’s 78.9 points per game as a team is ranked fourth in the SEC, compared to Kentucky’s 13th ranked 68.5 points per game.

The top four scorers for the Crimson Tide are  led by sophomore Jaden Shackelford’s 13.1 points per game, to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists. Second in scoring is Villanova-transfer and former 5-star Jahvon Quinerly who averages 13 points and a team-leading 3.4 assists per game. Quinerly is questionable for tonight’s game, as he’s missed the last two games with an undisclosed medical condition. Third on the list is senior forward Herbert Jones, who is just behind at 12.9 points per contest. Jones also leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 and steals at 1.7, to go along with 1.9 assists and 1.1 blocks. Last on the list is senior John Petty Jr, who has been a four year starter and four year double digit scorer at Alabama. Petty is averaging 12.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 steals per game this season.

2. Three-point shooting

Nate Oats has implemented a style of play at Alabama that rivals the NBA game. Quick possessions and an increased amount of three-point attempts. His team’s stats back up that philosophy, as the Crimson Tide shoot 29.2 threes per game, which ranks 12th in the country. Auburn’s 29.7 per game is the only SEC team that attempts more. What’s good for Kentucky is that Alabama only hits 32.2% of their threes on the year, ranking 210th in the country. For reference, Kentucky has been said to be a bad shooting team all year and they aren’t far behind Alabama’s percentage, sitting at 31.2%. Good news for Alabama is that even if you shoot a low percentage, shooting a large amount of threes will assure that you’ll make a solid amount, and the Crimson Tide make nearly 10 per game.

The aspect of this that makes Alabama so difficult to defend is that they have no many different players that can be a threat from deep. There are six Crimson Tide players who have made at least 10 threes this year, two more have made at least six. Nate Oats’ squad has seven contributing players who shoot anywhere from 32.4% to 50% from three on the year. John Petty Jr. and Jaden Schackelford are the two most important shooters to account for, as they’ve made 22 and 24 threes respectively this season. Petty has attempted 109 total field goals this year with 66 of them being threes, while Shackelford has attempted threes on 69 of his 128 attempts. The defense can’t be like the first halves against Notre Dame and Vandy for Kentucky. A team like Alabama will just put up too many points to come back from.

3. Non-conference slate

While we all know that Kentucky’s non-conference results were some of the worst in school history, the Cats were facing the sixth ranked non-conference strength of schedule. While those results are still no excuse, it is a little bit of an explanation of how Kentucky ended up where they were. On the flip side, Alabama was 5-3 at the end of non-conference play, with just the 30th ranked out of conference schedule in the country. While some of the wins for the Crimson Tide were convincing in score, they certainly weren’t showing off like a team that would be atop the SEC after two weeks worth of games.

Bama’s wins include a blow outs over Jacksonville State, Providence, and East Tennessee State, while also beating UNLV by 12 and squeaking past Furman with a 3-point victory. The problem for Alabama is that they lost to the three better teams on their schedule. The Crimson Tide lost by 18 to Stanford and by 8 to Stanford, both games played on neutral courts. Their third loss came at the hands of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers as 19 turnovers and just 7 of 26 from three plagued Alabama in a close defeat.

4. Battle for the SEC’s best

In a sentence that many Kentucky fans never thought they’d never be reading as little as two weeks ago, tonight’s game between the Wildcats and the Crimson Tide is for sole possession of first place in the Southeastern Conference. The Cats have won three in a row to start SEC play, and the Crimson Tide have won four in a row. Both teams are playing their best basketball of the season, as evidenced by Bama and Kentucky being listed at 1 and 2 on Andy Katz’s Top Turnaround Teams list that was released earlier this afternoon. Kentucky is listed as a three-point favorite tonight in Rupp Arena, but I think the line could be a toss up, depending on where it was played.

Alabama’s wins have been more a bit more impressive than Kentucky’s through the first two weeks of conference play. While Kentucky was taken to the wire against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, they did beat up on Florida in Gainesville. However, Alabama reeled off an 18-point win over Ole Miss, a convincing 8-point victory at then ranked No. 7 Tennessee, and a 15-point win at home against Florida. This past Saturday, the Crimson Tide traveled to Auburn and won in a shootout over the Tigers, 94-90. Both the win over Florida and the win over Auburn came with starting point guard, Jahvon Quinerly sitting out with a medical issue. Alabama is in the lead in the SEC right now and their play is backing up that record. Tonight will be the toughest test that Kentucky has faced in SEC play thus far.

5. SEC streaks, part 4

Let’s catch everyone up on the first three SEC streaks that Kentucky has continued over the last 10 days. Against Mississippi State, they had 14 straight wins before making it 15 in double-overtime last weekend. Against Vanderbilt, Coach Cal had won 10 straight in Rupp Arena and nine straight overall over the Commodores. This past Saturday at Florida, Kentucky won their fifth straight game over the Gators. For the fourth consecutive game, the Cats look to continue an SEC winning streak. Tonight would be Kentucky’s fourth straight conference victory, as well as third straight victory over Alabama.

Last season, Kentucky beat Alabama by nine in a game where they defended the three-point line very well. The Cats kept the Crimson Tide to 4 of 21 shooting from deep. That win was Kentucky’s 16th win in 19 tries against Alabama in the Coach Cal era. An effort like that tonight would almost assuredly be the recipe for a Wildcat victory. As Kentucky does over most of the teams in the Southeastern Conference, the Cats lead the overall series by a wide margin, holding a 114-38 lead.


Go Cats. Beat Crimson Tide.

@BrettBibbinsKSR

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