The 6th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide played an unusual Sunday noon game against the Kent State Golden Flashes. Much like the 11 am football kickoffs, the teams don’t always seem to be awake when the game starts. Both the Tide and the Flashes fell victim to this. In a sloppy, poor shooting performance, Bama used defense and rebounding to take the 81-54 victory. The Tide improved to 10-2 while Kent State fell to 9-3 on the year.
Alabama coach Nate Oats sent out a starting lineup of Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Labaron Philon, Clifford Omoruyi, and Jarin Stevenson to start the game. A derp fest ensued. If the teams weren’t missing shots they were turning the ball over. At the first media timeout (15:39 left) the score was tied 2-2 with the Tide’s points coming on a pair of Sears free throws.
A whole new five of Chris Youngblood, Aden Holloway, Houston Mallette, Derrion Reid, and Aiden Sherrell were on the floor when play resumed. Holloway made a hoop on a drive and Youngblood hit a three pointer for a 7-4 lead. Reid was very active and scored on a couple of drives and at the free throw line to build a 13-4 lead at the 11:47 mark. A pair of Stevenson free throws with 6:56 left used the Tide lead to 20-6. Sears hit from long rang for a 30-12 lead with 4:50 left. At this point Nelson already had 10 rebounds…