| MBB/WBB No. 25 Alabama Men’s Basketball Surges Past Jacksonville State, 81-57, in Season Opener

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

All in all, for the first action of the year, I'm pretty happy. Awesome to finally see this group on the court. Really encouraged that the turnovers were cut down compared to early on last year (just 10 total and only 2 in the 2nd half). Love the depth and athleticism of the roster. They do need to improve a bit on rebounds and definitely need to get stronger going to the rim, they (especially Herb), missed way to many shots at the rim. But, Bama still scored 42 points in the paint, not shabby. The free throws and 3's will be fine, IMO, however (and I have no stats to back this up) it seems like Petty is a much more effective 3 point shooter off a pass than off a dribble. Herb is Herb on defense. Quinnerly is what he was advertised. Shackelford is fun to watch. Some of the new guys will make an impact. Reese needs to really step it up soon to keep his minutes.

 

[mando]

Takeaways - this is definitely the first game. The offense struggled with 3's but have enough offensive options to still score a ton of points. Herb Jones is still limited offensively but did hit a 3 pointer late. Can't say that w/o saying but the rest of his game is great. Had a double double. Just a guy that hustles and makes plays. Shackelford is our scorer and is able to create when the play breaks down. Quinerly had a good game and seems like a nice replacement for Lewis. There is a lot more depth on this team.

The defense is going to be improved. How much not sure but that will be the deciding factor for how improved this team will be.

 

[UA Press Release]

No. 25 Alabama Men’s Basketball Surges Past Jacksonville State, 81-57, in Season Opener - University of Alabama Athletics

No. 25 Alabama Men’s Basketball Surges Past Jacksonville State, 81-57, in Season Opener

rolltide.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama’s Jaden Shackelford and Herbert Jones each collected a double-double on the night to lead four players in double figures as the Crimson Tide cruised to an 81-57 season-opening victory over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks Wednesday night in Coleman Coliseum.

Shackelford (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Jones (12 points and 12 rebounds) were joined in by guard Jahvon Quinerly, who collected 18 points and team-leading three assists in his first performance for UA after sitting out the 2019-20 season due to NCAA transfer rules, and John Petty Jr. (14 points) as double-digit scorers.

Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

“I am really pleased with our effort. We are going to shoot a lot better here on out, we missed a lot at the rim. All in all, we set a record here for blue collar points, we had 151. Herb Jones led the team, taking charges and getting deflections were key. I thought our energy on that side of the ball was good and we were not letting them score off of second chances. I am happy for Shack, it was his first double-double of his career and I thought his effort was great. I told the team let’s not worry about the offense as much, let’s just play our game. I am really happy for JQ. It was his first game and birthday and he scored 18 points. Thought there were many good things to look at, but we’ll get the offense ready for Monday.”


Team Stats

• Jaden Shackelford collected his first career double-double in the win, which included a career-best 11 rebounds
• Herbert Jones’ 12 rebounds is the fifth time in his career he has reached double-digit rebounds and it’s his fourth career double-double
• James Rojas came off the bench to account for eight points and seven rebounds in his first collegiate action at Alabama
• Alabama led for 37:12 of the game and by as many as 30 points before settling for the 24-point win
• The Tide used a 42-16 edge in points in the paint and a 23-9 advantage in second chance points
• Alabama outrebounded Jacksonville State 55-49 and forced the Gamecocks into 20 turnovers on the night to result in a 19-10 edge in points off turnovers

First Half

• After trailing 10-9 early in the game, Alabama used a 12-2 run to take the lead for good
• Jacksonville State trimmed the deficit to six, 30-24, with 2:37 remaining in the half, however, the Tide scored the final six points in the half to take its largest lead, 36-24, into the locker room

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Sure improved most everything in second half.
kind of helter skelter looking game...

 

[It Takes Eleven]

A good start. Jax State has some size, and the NC transfer was giving them a challenge inside, but it’s great to have to face a tough individual matchup like that early.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Hoping for a solid year but I'm going to need to wait and see where're we at after about 10 games before I get off the couch.

 

[ColAngus]

Quinerly is a baller.

 

[bama alum]

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That was my most positive takeaway from this game. Again, granted it was the first game, and it was against JSU. Still...I like this team a lot.

 

[mando]

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Agree it is JSU but these guys had some transfers from some major programs playing for them. Not your traditional JSU or lower tier game. I do not want to prop them up any more than I should but it was a good opponent for the first game. There were some struggles for Bama rebounding at times and of course their three point shots were not falling. Not as worried about the offense since that appears to be Oats strong points. I was watching more for the defense, rebounding, free throw shooting and depth. Those were areas the team struggled in last year. Can they compete with the better teams? We will see soon enough.

 

[footballer]

I think JSU beat us last year, if I'm not mistaken. In this game, we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, but in the end ,we out rebounded them. My biggest take away from this first game, I was really impressed by the team not turning the ball over and over. Turnovers killed us in many games last year and in previous years. Didn't we have around 10 last night?