The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's home opener against Longwood

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head coach Nate Oats said it was time for his team to play someone else on Friday, and Monday's home opener against Longwood gave the Crimson Tide that opportunity.

The team dominated from the opening tip and cruised to a 75-54 win against the Lancers.

Alabama was welcomed back to Coleman Coliseum with open arms, but it wasn't the first time fans got a chance to see the 2022-23 rendition of the Crimson Tide. The team hosted a charity scrimmage against Southern Illinois at Foster Auditorium

Here are three takeaways from Monday's win.

Oats started four newcomers in Mark Sears, Nimari Burnett, Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney, but it was the true freshman duo that stole the show for the Crimson Tide. Both freshmen finished with a double-double in the win with Miller leading the team in points with 14 and Clowney racking up 11 rebounds.

When Miller or Clowney needed a rest, Alabama turned to Rylan Griffen who led the team with 14 points off the bench and nailed one of three 3-point baskets on the night. In the second half, Alabama found production from another freshman as Jaden Bradley led all scorers in the final 20 minutes tallying 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting while converting on 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.

Against the Salukis, Miller led all scorers with 14 points while Clowney paced the team in rebounds with eight, while Griffen and Bradley combined for 12 points off the bench. On Monday, it was clear Oats wanted to showcase its younger talent, rotating Griffen and Bradley early in the first half.

"We had the No. 3 recruiting class in the country and I think it's showing," Oats said. "Brandon is obviously really talented and had 14 (points) and 13 (rebounds) and he didn't make a three and he could shoot the ball really well. Jaden Bradley showed why we liked him. He's tough, gritty and made tough finishes on offense, but really guards and kind of knows how to play the game.

"Rylan Griffen has no fear. He's going to make shots at a much higher clip than he did tonight. He plays hard and gets the boards. Shoot he has 14 points tonight and we really needed a boost from him in the first half and he kind of gave it. Then Clowney is starting and we expect a lot out of him. He had double-digit rebounds and we almost had all four freshmen in double-digit scoring. .... I was happy with the freshman class, they are going to play a lot for us this year."

Alabama's charity scrimmage against Southern Illinois showed the team still struggles from behind the three-point line. Last season the Crimson Tide shot less than 31% from three, which ranked in the bottom half of the SEC. Against Longwood, the cold shooting from deep continued as it shot at a 10.7 % clip from deep.

In the first half, Alabama went 1-for-13 from deep. Griffen drained Alabama's first three-pointer of the season with 6:53 left in the first half, which broke an 0-for-8 shooting slump.

"Maybe we had some first-game jitters," Oats said. Nimari (Burnett) is one of the better shooters on the team and is one of the better shooters that I've ever seen in most of the practices since the summer, but he couldn't make a shot. Brandon has been shooting it a lot better than he shot it tonight. Mark Sears shoots it a lot better than he does tonight, Rylan Griffen does and you can kind of go down the list. I think the shooting numbers will take care of itself."

With Alabama's inconsistency from behind the three-point line, the Crimson Tide offense found the majority of its production from inside the paint. When shots from deep clanged off of the rim, Alabama used its size and good positioning to grab eight offensive rebounds and converted them into eight second-chance points.

"It just wasn't falling early so we decided to drive to the paint, get two feet in the paint and get spread outs," Miller said. "That caused those long closeouts and then we crashed the offensive boards to get the east two points."

Alabama's size in the front court with Miller, Clowney and Bediako all standing at 6-foot-9 and above, helped the Crimson Tide outrebound the Lancers by a 67-38 margin. Along with a dominating performance on the glass, Alabama just bullied the Lancers down low, recording 48 points in the paint. The success down low resulted in changes for the team's offensive scheme as Clowney, Bediako and Nick Pringle all had offensive ratings of more than 120.

"They were blitzing ball screens so we ran stuff to get us to the paint for layups and open threes," Griffen said. "But most of the time it was layups because they were blitzing ball screens."