It was a successful road trip for No. 21 Alabama, with the team defeating Florida 84-66 last Thursday and Mississippi State 80-60 on Sunday. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly for the Crimson Tide in the two games.
The good
Record-breaking Aaliyah Nye. After having games where she finished just one or two 3-pointers shy of the school’s single-game record of nine, she finally accomplished it against Florida.
Nye shot 9/12 from range against the Gators and had a game-high 27 points, helping anchor the win in Gainesville. She is now leading the SEC in 3-point percentage at 44.2%.
“I had really felt like I was in a slump the last few games before that performance,” Nye said. “I just kept getting in the gym to shoot and made sure to stay consistent and not get down when I was slumping.”
The 3-point barrage. Along with Nye, the entire team was blazing hot from downtown. Alabama shot over 50% in both games and combined to go 21/40.
The buckets came at crucial times. In the second half of a close game against Florida, the Crimson Tide shot a staggeringly high 81.8% (9/11) from downtown, helping to bridge the gap and close out the Gators.
Defense. The Crimson Tide defense was on point this road trip, holding both Florida and Mississippi State to under 35% shooting from the field.
The team has also limited opponents’ attacks from downtown, holding the Gators and Bulldogs to a combined 21.6% (8/37) on 3s the past two games.
“Our group does an excellent job of understanding the importance of player tendencies and all the things that we want to do defensively,” head coach Kristy Curry said.
Balanced scoring. In each of the past two games, the Crimson Tide has had four players in double-digit scoring. The entire starting lineup against Mississippi State almost reached that mark, as guard Karly Weathers finished with 9.
The well-distributed attack on offense can give headaches to opposing defenses, not allowing them to key in on just one player.
“This team is at its best when we have great balance,” Curry said. “I’m just really proud of our ability to share the ball.”
The bad
Offensive rebounds. Although Florida shot dismally from the field and the Crimson Tide shot over 50%, the margin was still at 6 points at the end of the third quarter due to Alabama’s struggles on the offensive boards.
The team gave up a whopping 18 offensive boards to the Gators while only snagging six of its own, which gave Florida more possessions and more opportunities to convert.
“We weren’t happy at Florida with the amount of offensive rebounds we gave up,” Curry said.
The ugly
Turnover margin. Despite winning by at least 18 points in the past two games, the team lost the turnover margin in both. The team had 14 turnovers at Florida while forcing 13, and it turned the ball over a notably high 22 times and only forcing 12 from the Bulldogs.
The turnover bug seems to be the one thing holding Alabama from truly being elite, as it has come back to bite the team in the past. In the 66-64 loss against Vanderbilt, when the Crimson Tide turned the ball over 23 times.
Curry’s team has done a good job at this point of the season at overcoming the turnover struggles, but it will need to get rid of the issues if they want to make a deep tournament run.
Alabama will return to Coleman Coliseum on Monday in a matchup against Texas A&M at 7 p.m. CT, and the game can be streamed on SEC Network.
