No. 5 Alabama basketball had some electric stretches in its 88-68 win over South Carolina on Wednesday. Despite some lapses to start the second half, the Crimson Tide was ultimately able to achieve a blowout victory in its second SEC game.

It once again wasn’t a flawless performance, but Alabama (13-2, 2-0 SEC) got an outstanding first half from star guard Mark Sears and leaned on good ball movement and strong play defensively to overcome a poor outing from the free throw line and a sputtering start to the second half to prevent any chance of a Gamecocks comeback, while nearly achieving its NCAA-leading scoring average of 91 points per game and notch another win in league play.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s win over South Carolina.

Sears seemed to have an extra bounce in his step Wednesday night. The Alabama guard continued his near-flawless performance against Oklahoma with an equally strong start against the Gamecocks. Sears scored 13 points and added a pair of assists in his first 13 minutes on the floor.

Alabama’s star had his finger on the pulse of the team’s offense no matter if he was scoring or setting up teammates. He set the tone for what ultimately was a blowout victory for the Tide and finished the night with 22 points and six assists. He put a stamp on another All-American level performance with an alley-oop pass to Derrion Reid for his final assist of the game.

However, Alabama still needed a few other players to step up after Sears sat for a large chunk of the second half. Oats made a platoon substation after the Tide came out of halftime sputtering. But Oats' bench affirmed why Alabama is seen as one of the deepest teams in the county. Alabama's reserves outscored South Carolina's 39-4, which helped it build on its early advantage and overcome some lapses early in the second half.

During the Tide's lackluster opening few minutes of the final period, Oats called timeout and sprinted to halfcourt to yell at Derrion Reid after the freshman forward failed to get back on defense, allowing an easy South Carolina bucket following a Tide make. Oats was incensed after Alabama allowed nine points in South Carolina's first six possessions of the second period.

Ried didn't waiver after a reaming from his coach, however. He made some impressive plays in the paint and finished with nine points, two rebounds and a pair of steals. Sophomore guard Aden Holloway came out equally hot as his coach was during the timeout, scoring eight straight points and finishing with 13 off the bench.

Alabama did an excellent job of getting Clifford Omoruyi involved on the offensive end against an undersized Oklahoma team in its last game. The Rutgers transfer had 10 points, most of which came on easy lobs inside.

It was the same story in Columbia, South Carolina. Omoruyi worked well in screen actions and Alabama players made great reads to get the big man the ball after driving and drawing multiple defenders. The Tide racked up 18 assists as a team, carving up South Carolina’s defense while getting Omoruyi involved as often as possible. The big man was the team’s second-leading scorer at halftime and finished with 10 points and five rebounds despite running into some foul trouble.

Alabama’s excellent ball movement spread beyond feeding it inside to Omoruyi. The Tide froze South Carolina’s defense and made excellent passes into pockets of space between defenders. Reid and Holloway had three assists each in addition to their scoring and Alabama finished with 21 assists as a team. Forwards Mouhamed Diobuate and Aiden Sherrell made up for a lackluster performance by Grant Nelson, each scoring seven points off the bench. Diobute led Alabama with a plus-19 box-plus rating an the Tide scored over half of its 88 points in the paint.

Alabama took advantage of South Carolina with good ball movement. Defensively the Tide, Diobuate in particular did a great job keeping the ball out of the hands of Collin Murray-Boyles, limiting the Gamecocks leading scorer to just six points.

Alabama turned 14 South Carolina turnovers into 17 points. The Tide carved up the Gamecocks offensively and shot the ball well in two of Oats 3 key areas, going 52.5% from the field, including 38.9% from 3.

However, the Tide's struggles from the charity stripe which have been an issue all season continued. Oats bemoaned the free throw issues at halftime after Alabama went just 3 of 8 in the first half. Alabama didn't fare much better in the second and finished the game going just 10 of 20 from the line. Only Holloway, who was 2 of 2 made all of his free throw attempts Wednesday night.