It was far from perfect, but Alabama defeated Creighton at Coleman 83-75.

This one started about as well as you would hope from the tide. Alabama’s guards pushed to the rim at will, the energy on defense was outstanding, and the result was a 27-10 lead just over ten minutes into the game. All indications were that Nate Oats’ team was primed to pull off an even more impressive victory after last week’s resounding victory over North Carolina. Even Chris Youngblood got involved, scoring a three-pointer in his first appearance of the season.

Unfortunately, it was a full 180 points in the final minutes of the half. Alabama’s shots were no longer falling all over the field and Creighton was able to keep the Tide away from the offensive glass. As a result, the Blue Jays were the team that got a few slight looks. They were able to close the half with a 21:10 run and got within six at the break, 37:31. Labaron Philon and Mark Sears led the way on offense, combining for 15 of the 37 points.

The second half was a hard fought battle. The Tide never really got the perimeter game going, but as usual, Sears was good for a few late attacks to keep the Blue Jays at bay. Philon also played a big role in the second half, and Derrion Reid made some plays off the bench. Creighton’s star big man Ryan Kalkbrenner had a strong game as always, but the Tide’s defense was noticeably better than last year, when Creighton lost 85 to them.

The Tide only shot 20% from three in this game and still managed to beat a good team. Cold shooting nights will doom them as they enter conference play in a brutal SEC, so hopefully they’ve gotten some of that out of their system. Luckily, Sears shot 4/7 out while the rest of the team went 2/23. Aidan Sherrell did five recordings and we probably don’t need to see an encore of that. Youngblood’s shooting looked rusty, but given his track record, there’s probably no reason to worry. You can see why he is a great player on both ends of the field, with good size and intelligence.

It wasn’t as good as it needed to be, but a win is a win. Next up is the Grant Nelson game at North Dakota on Wednesday night.

Roll Tide.