3 takeaways from Alabama basketball’s close win against North Dakota in Grant Nelson’s homecoming

Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats may not want to schedule another road game so one of his players will soon be heading home.

Not if they all want to go like it did against North Dakota.

From start to finish, the Fighting Hawks stayed with Alabama. The Crimson Tide had to fight until the final minute and outlasted North Dakota 97-90 on Wednesday in Grand Forks, North Dakota in what was a homecoming of sorts for Grant Nelson.

Nelson and Mark Sears led Alabama with 23 points apiece.

Here are the takeaways from the match between no. 6 Alabama (9-2) and North Dakota (4-9).

Sloppy start on the road

Alabama ending the first half on a turnover felt fitting.

Sears punted the ball out of bounds as the Crimson Tide failed to score on its final possession before halftime. As a result, the Fighting Hawks led 38-35 at halftime.

Alabama had 13 turnovers in the first half. That made it difficult to get anything going offensively as the Crimson Tide struggled to make shots.

Alabama went 0-for-8 from deep to start the game as well as 3-for-12 overall.

Those offensive stumbles, as Alabama tried a variety of lineups, allowed North Dakota to stay in it.

The Crimson Tide solved its turnover problems in the second half, finishing with 14. But those first-half problems prevented Alabama from dashing any hopes of an early North Dakota upset.

Treysen Eaglestaff gives Alabama all kinds of problems

The Crimson Tide will not forget Treysen Eaglestaff.

The Bismark, North Dakota native made play after play and shot after shot. Just as Alabama looked to start to gain traction and pull away in the second half up 11, Eaglestaff led the charge to fight back.

After Alabama took a 64-55 lead with 10:57 left, Eaglestaff went to work. He scored North Dakota’s next four buckets, two of them from deep.

A few minutes later, Eaglestaff hit his seventh triple of the game to tie the game at 78-78 with 4:06 left.

Eaglestaff scored a career-high point total and finished the game with 40 points as he went 15-for-30 and 8-for-18 from deep.

Grant Nelson with double-double in homecoming

The Devils Lake, North Dakota, native shined when he returned to his home state, and Alabama needed it. Especially with what he did of late.

Nelson, who transferred to Alabama last season from North Dakota State, scored to break an 85-85 tie with two minutes remaining, then grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end of the floor. He immediately fouled and hit his free throws to give Alabama a four-point lead with 90 seconds left.

Another defensive rebound moments later and Nelson hit double-double territory. That gave him 10 rebounds. Nelson finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and three blocks.

Nelson’s effort helped Alabama close out the win. He hit the final two free throws of the game to close out the win.

Nick Kelly is a beat writer from Alabama AL.com and Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.