No. 5 Alabama men’s basketball improved to 13-2 on the season and 2-0 in SEC play with an 88-68 win on the road versus South Carolina Wednesday night.
A key storyline for the game was that Nick Pringle, a former Alabama forward who participated in last year’s Final Four run, was playing his former team for the first time. He ended the night with 13 points and six rebounds.
“First road game for us in the SEC, our guys answered the bell pretty well,” head coach Nate Oats said of the win.
The Crimson Tide got off to a fast start in the first half, jumping out to a 45-28 lead at the break.
This was largely thanks to guard Mark Sears’ 16-point start, during which he went 4-4 on 3-point attempts. This seemed to ignite the rest of the roster to follow suit, as the team shot an impressive 60% from the field at the half.
“Mark was really good early,” Oats said. “He scored or assisted on 17 out of our first 25. He looked like a player of the year candidate to start the game.”
Though the Crimson Tide had a commanding halftime lead, the Gamecocks began to climb back into the game. Oats benched the starting five to send a message, and he said after the game that he was unimpressed with their effort out of the break.
“That had definitely been building,” he said. “We’ve had awful starts. The second half, particularly when we’ve had a lead. … That’s not how we do things around here.”
One of the players who came in to relieve the starters was guard Aden Holloway, who gave the team a spark by scoring 7 straight points to regain momentum.
For the rest of the way, Alabama’s defense kept South Carolina from making the game competitive.
Oats has been critical of his team’s defensive performance throughout the season but noted that the team was “significantly better as a whole” on Wednesday.
Sears was the Crimson Tide’s leading scorer with 22 points. He also had six assists and shot 7/12 on the night.
“Just seeing the first shot go in, it felt good after that,” he said.
Holloway and center Clifford Omoruyi also had solid performances, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively. Holloway had three assists and Omoruyi grabbed five rebounds.
Alabama will stay on the road for its next game Saturday in a top-10 showdown versus No. 10 Texas A&M. The game is at 7 p.m. CT and can be streamed on ESPN.
