TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 24/24 Alabama men’s basketball team defeated Indiana State 102-80 Friday night in Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide had four players score double figures, including three players record 20 points or more led by Aaron Estrada’s game-high 27 points. 

 

The Crimson Tide dominated the glass, grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, giving the Tide an 18-3 advantage in second chance points. With his game high 27-points, Aaron Estrada has now surpassed 1,500 career points in his collegiate career after shooting 56 percent (9-16) from the floor, 75 percent (6-8) from beyond-the-arc and a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line against Indiana State.

 

To go along with Estrada’s 27, Mark Sears (24) and Grant Nelson (20) also put up double figures, with Nelson collecting a team-high eight rebounds.

 

The Sycamores were led by Ryan Conwell, posting a double-double, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds.

 

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

“That was a quality win. Indiana State is a really good, very well-coached team. We knew it was going to be that way when we scheduled them. They were even better than I thought they were going to be when we scheduled them so for our guys to come out and start out down 9-0 I thought our guys did a pretty good job bouncing back and staying locked in and figuring out a way to help get Aaron (Estrada) going. We had three guys score over 20, which I thought was pretty impressive. Our defense was not good again and we've got to do a way better job on defense. We had our rotation shrink a little bit from the last game, just with how tight the game was. We knew this team was going be a lot better and honestly, they didn’t even have their best, as Robbie Avila was out with an injury. We just have to continue to get better on defense. We've got South Alabama coming in and they play a much different style than Indiana State, but they play really hard. Richie Riley has done a great job down there and we're just going to keep preaching defense.

 

TEAM STATS

• Alabama won its 17^th straight game at home, which is the seventh longest winning streak in the country
• The Crimson Tide won its 16^th straight non-conference game at Coleman Coliseum
• The Tide had three players score 20 points or more in a game for the first time since Jan. 19, 2021 at LSU (John Petty Jr.’s 24 points, Joshua Primo’s 22 points and Jahvon Quinerly’s 22 points)
• Mark Sears made a season-high nine free throws
• Alabama shot 52 percent from the floor (33-64), 57 percent (13-23) from the three and 85 percent (23-27) from the charily stripe
• Indiana State shot 51 percent (27-53) from the floor, 38 percent (10-26) from deep and 62 percent (16-26) from the line
• The Crimson Tide dominated the glass, outrebounding the Sycamores 40-25

 

FIRST HALF

• Indiana State scored the first nine points of the game and the Tide responded with a 15-0 run over the next four minutes to take its first lead of the game
• The Tide followed it up late in the first half with a 13-3 run over a four-minute span
• UA took an 11-point lead into the locker room, leading the Sycamores 48-37
• Aaron Estrada scored 22 of the Tides 48 first-half points on 11 shots (7-11) while knocking down an impressive five three pointers (5-7)
• At the half, Alabama shot 47 percent (16-34) from the floor, 64 percent (9-14) from the three and 88 percent (7-8) from the line
• The Crimson Tide led in both bench points (13-7) and points in the paint (14-6) going into the locker room

 

SECOND HALF

• Grant Nelson scored 18 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes
• Mark Sears scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half
• UA didn’t allow a field goal over the final two minutes and 57 seconds of the game
• The Crimson Tide outrebounded the Sycamores 23-9 in the second half

 

UP NEXT

• Alabama will face the South Alabama Jaguars Nov. 14 in Coleman Coliseum
• The game will tip-off at 7 p.m. CT and air live on SEC Network+

 

 

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