The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's win against Memphis

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The much-anticipated rematch between Alabama and Memphis lived up to all the expectations.

For the second game in a row, Alabama was tested all the way until the final buzzer but it wasn't enough to deter the Crimson Tide as it walked away with its ninth win of the season, downing the Tigers 91-88.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's win against Memphis.

Alabama's depth was tested before its game against Memphis tipped off.

Prior to the much-anticipated rematch, the team announced Nimari Burnett would be out indefinitely after undergoing surgery to repair a broken wrist. Burnett has been Alabama's best perimeter defender, assuming the role of a shutdown man. Against Houston, Burnett picked up leading scorer Marcus Sasser full-court, pestering the senior to his second game where he was held under double digits in scoring.

On Tuesday, Alabama faced its second-consecutive high-end scoring guard in Memphis' Kendric Davis. With Burnett unavailable to slow down Davis, who leads the team in scoring with 18.4 points per game, Alabama opted to defend him by committee.

Davis faced off against Jaden Bradley, Mark Sears and Jahvon Quinerly who all took a page from Burnett's book, picking the senior up full-court and face-guarding him when Davis didn't have the ball.

Despite the different looks, Davis was unfazed, leading all scorers with 30 points on 11 of 22 shooting. While Davis was able to find and create his own shot it wasn't enough to claw the Tigers back into the game.

"We obviously didn't do too well against Davis," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "He dropped 30 on us. We have to figure it out a little bit better than that."

Davis' scoring barrage didn't cost Alabama on Tuesday, but the team will have to defend against plenty more high-end scoring guards this season such as Arkansas' Ricky Council IV, Oklahoma's Grant Sheffield and South Carolina's GG Jackson.

When asked what Alabama is going to do defensively without Burnett in the near future, Oats said "I don't have the answer for that right now."

"We don't have a Herb Jones here this year. So we're going to have to figure out something a little bit better," Oats said. "I'll say this Rylan (Griffen) asked for him repeatedly and we gave him a shot. ... Darius (Miles was asking for him ... and Jalen Bradley wanted him but you can't foul him. We've got guys that want to do it that I think they can do it, but we just have to do a better job without fouling."

It was no secret that Brandon Miller was in a slump heading into Tuesday night's game.

Against Houston, Miller was held under double digits in scoring for the first time in his career, recording eight points on an ice-cold 0-for-8 shooting night. The true freshman started off Tuesday's game slowly, tallying just three points on 1 of 4 shooting. However, in the second half, Miller found his rhythm scoring 11 of the team's first 27 second-half points.

Miller led the team in scoring with 24 points while shooting an efficient 7-for-13 from the field.

The performance got Miller back into double digits for the first time since Alabama hosted South Dakota State on Dec. 3.

Regardless of the shooting slump, Miller said he didn't change any part of his routine against the Tigers.

"I went into the game like I normally do and I just responded to the energy that my teammates gave me," Miller said. "I've got good players around me so I can just feed off of them and not try to do everything by myself."

Alabama's free-throw shooting has been a bit of a sore spot for the team as it has shot under 70% from the charity stripe in two of the team's last three games. Against Houston, Alabama went 7-for-23 good for the team's third-worst total from the free-throw line this season. However, when the team needed to make its shots from the line, it came through

That mentality came to fruition against Memphis on Tuesday. For the second-consecutive game, the Crimson Tide struggled to take advantage from the free-throw line, going 8-for-14 in the first half.

But when the game got tight in the second half Alabama converted from the line going 21-for-26 in the second half to seal the victory.

"I just kind of told the guys, 'When you're locked in, you're locked in,'" Oats said. "We got to get a little better to get locked in earlier. Last year we had two big wins against Gonzaga and Houston, went to Memphis last year and really played super lethargic. This was not one of our better performances tonight, but to still come out with a win, you've gotta give the guys credit."