Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats tried to warn his team. Following a narrow win against Kansas State over the weekend, he fussed over the Crimson Tide’s startling deficit on the offensive boards. That was the emphasis during practice this week as Alabama prepared for a No. 22 LSU team that entered Wednesday’s game ranked No. 16 in the nation in rebounding margin.

“If we don’t get a lot tougher and fix that problem, we’re going to get blown out,” Oats predicted following Tuesday’s practice.

It turns out the head coach was right. LSU bullied Alabama on the boards all night en route to a 90-76 rout in Baton Rouge, La. The Tigers outrebounded the Crimson Tide 49-31 while outscoring Alabama 50-38 in the paint. The defeat snapped a four-game winning streak for Alabama (12-8, 4-3 in the SEC). Meanwhile, LSU (16-4, 7-0) remained the only unbeaten team in SEC play while extending its winning run to nine straight games.

Alabama’s poor night on the boards came after a similarly lackluster performance against Kansas State over the weekend. During its last two games, the Crimson Tide has been outrebounded 94-64, including a 36-14 disadvantage on the offensive glass.

A hot start from beyond the arc helped Alabama stay in the game early. However, the Crimson Tide eventually went cold, suffering through a 1 of 12 stretch from the floor midway through the first half. Capitalizing on several second-chance opportunities, the Tigers used that time to bury their visitors with a back-breaking 18-2 run.

After heading into the half down 51-33, Alabama chipped away at LSU’s lead as a 3 from Jaylen Forbes trimmed the deficit to nine points with 13:14 remaining. However, a steal by LSU’s Aundre Hyatt led to a transition layup from Skyler Mays to put the Tigers back up by double digits. Birmingham, Ala., native Trendon Watford then stole the ensuing inbound which led to a missed layup that was fittingly followed up by an offensive rebound and putback by Hyatt to further squash the Crimson Tide’s momentum.

LSU finished the game with a 20-5 advantage in second-chance points. The Tigers also capitalized on a lofty free-throw discrepancy, hitting on 19 of 20 trips to the charity stripe while Alabama finished the game 6 of 10 from the line.

Alabama elected to switch up its starting lineup, playing a healthy John Petty Jr. off the bench for the first time this season. According to ESPN2’s broadcast, Oats elected to make the switch after the junior guard had a poor practice Tuesday. Petty finished the game with a season-low 4 points on 1 of 7 shooting.

Freshman guard Jaden Shackelford led Alabama with 21 points while hitting five 3s. Alex Reese also had a big night with 17 points and was joined in double figures by Kira Lewis Jr., who had 13 points and a team-high eight assists.

LSU had two players record double-doubles as Emmit Williams had 23 points and 11 rebounds while Watford recorded 17 points and 15 boards. The duo was among five Tigers in double figures, joining Mays (18 points), Javonte Smart (12 points) and Darius Days (12 points).

The Crimson Tide was without graduate transfer guard James "Beetle" Bolden, who sat out the game due to illness.

Alabama returns home to face Arkansas on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. The Razorbacks won their lone meeting against the Crimson Tide last season, coming away with an 82-70 victory in Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas is led by junior Mason Jones who entered Wednesday second in the SEC averaging 18.4 points per game. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard also entered the day averaging a team-leading 6.1 rebounds 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals.

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