The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's blowout win over Florida

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball remains untouched atop the SEC standings. The No. 4 Crimson Tige continued its historic start to league play Wednesday night, rolling past Florida 97-69 inside Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama (21-3) is now 11-0 in SEC play for the second time in program history, joining the Rocket 8 team that swept through all 14 of its conference games in 1955-56. Following the game, head coach Nate Oats admitted he wasn't even sure who was in the SEC 67 years ago but said he's glad to be among elite company in program history.

“We’re just trying to play good basketball.” Oats said. “I think we played pretty well tonight. We’ve got a really tough two-game stretch in front of us, so it’s nice to make some history around here. If we get to 14-0, that’d be great.”

That Rocket 8 side was ruled ineligible for the NCAA tournament due to a previous rule prohibiting freshman participation. Coincidentally, this year’s drive toward the Big Dance has been led by the Crimson Tide’s stellar freshman class.

Wednesday night was no different as five-star freshman Brandon Miller paced the Tide, putting together his 15th straight double-digit scoring performance with 24 points to go with nine rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the win.

Wednesday night’s game didn’t tip off until 8 p.m., but Alabama had no trouble putting it to bed early. The Crimson Tide caught fire over a seven-minute stretch in the first half, using a 23-4 run to go up 40-15 with 6:16 remaining in the period.

"I feel like we were just playing basketball at the time," Miller said. "I don't think we really knew the run that we were on. I think it's just great Alabama basketball, really."

Jahvon Quinerly led the charge with 8 points during the run, hitting two 3s to get things heated up. The stretch also featured a nice 3-point play from Dom Welch before Noah Clowney and Rylan Griffen capped things off by back-to-back shots from beyond the arc.

Alabama shot 8 of 15 from the floor during the run, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Florida managed to make just two of its nine shots over that span.

The Crimson Tide continued to cruise from there, making five of its final seven first-half shots, including a buzzer-beating layup from Mark Sears to put Alabama up 52-23 at the break.

Alabama’s depth was once again on display as its bench outscored Florida's 29-12 on the night. Following Tuesday’s practice, Nate Oats revealed that the second unit out-performed the starters, stating that “Quinery had it going pretty well.”

That was certainly the case Wednesday night as Quinerly led the bench with 11 points and five assists over just 20 minutes. The performance marked the senior guard's third straight game with five or more assists.

"He gets everybody involved," Sears said. "It's great to have a point guard who can do that and make everybody on the court better.

Alabama’s production off the bench is nothing new. Heading into Wednesday, its bench averaged 33.8 points per game over its last five outings.

Alabama’s struggles with talented bigs continued as couldn’t find an answer for Florida’s Colin Castleton the 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward recorded a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 9 of 18 from the floor. He also had a pair of blocks, including one on Charles Bediako that sent the Alabama forward tumbling to the ground in the first half.

"Obviously Castleton had quite a game," Oat said. "We would have liked to do a better job on him. He's a really good player, obviously. I did think we did a good job of taking away their 3s."

Instead of doubling Castleton, Alabama elected to limit Florida's outside shooting. The plan worked as the Gators finished the night just 4 of 14 (28.6%) from beyond the arc. The majority of Florida’s lineup couldn’t find its rhythm on the night. Outside of Castleton, the rest of the Gators shot a combined 11 of 45 from the floor. Perhaps the only other player exempt from blame was freshman guard Riley Kugel, who scored 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting.