Alabama basketball overcomes poor North Dakota defense

Alabama went to North Dakota in a homecoming for senior Grant Nelson and got all they could handle but survived 97-90.

The first half of this game was enough to make even the most reasonable of Tide fans throw things at the television. I have no idea what they did on offense other than turn the ball over 13 times in the first 20 minutes and miss 13 of 18 three point attempts. They managed to get to the line just eight times in the first half against a team that doesn’t have the athletes to hang with them, and missed half of them.

Ball movement was nonexistent, as if every player came to the gym tonight with a primary goal of getting some one-on-one tape. Mark Sears continued to drive into traffic and became airborne himself, then frantically searched for an electrical outlet. Jarin Stevenson played a brutal half with zero points on 0-3 shooting from three, and two turnovers. Meanwhile, Fighting Hawks leading scorer Treysen Eaglestaff poured in 14 to lead North Dakota to a three-point halftime lead at 38-35.

Yes, Alabama trailed at the half in a Quad 4 game.

The Tide played much better offensively after the break, but had absolutely no answer for Eaglestaff, who couldn’t miss. The guy added 26 points in the second half to finish with 40 in a performance he’ll tell his grandkids about. Credit North Dakota for shooting the lights out, but the game was only close because Alabama turned the ball over at an alarming rate and saw several long rebounds land in the hands of the Fighting Hawks. The defensive effort was pretty pathetic.

This game served as a lesson against allowing overmatched teams to hang around, especially on the road. North Dakota bothered Alabama as it was, but a loss would have been downright humiliating. They escaped with a win and Nelson should have a good game in his home state with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but Nate Oats will have plenty to bring to their practice. Simply put, the team we saw tonight would be very lucky to finish .500 in an SEC that looks like perhaps the strongest conference in college basketball history.

Hopefully they can put this one behind them and figure some things out.

Roll Tide.