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

TUSCALOOSA Ala. — Despite returning to the friendly confines of Coleman Coliseum. No. 11 Alabama struggled against South Dakota State, but held onto win 78-65.

While the Crimson Tide came out on fire in the first half, the offensive production stagnated as it watched a 20-point lead whittle all the way down to seven points before halftime. Alabama head coach Nate Oats attributed that loss of execution to still recovering from the trip to Portland where the team faced three AP Top 25 squads, finishing with a 2-1 record.

"It was a good win but we didn't play as good as we liked in the middle of the game," Oats said. "I thought the last maybe eight minutes in the first half and the first eight minutes of the second half wasn't what we wanted. ... To me, it looked like we weren't back to 100%. It looked like we still had a hangover from our West Coast trip, to be honest with you."

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's seventh win of the season.

Before Noah Clowney could take the podium in the Coleman Coliseum media room, he took a stop at the garbage can to blow out his nose plug from his left nostril.

It was that kind of a night for Clowney, who was back on the floor on Saturday, after playing just three minutes against North Carolina because of a lower-body injury. While it was unclear how much of an impact he'd have after bruising his tailbone, the freshman wouldn't miss a beat hitting four of his first five 3-pointers to start the game.

Clowney's hot start helped him tally a team-high 14 points in the first half and his mojo stayed with him throughout the game as he tallied a career-high 22 points. It also set a new career-high for 3-point baskets for the true freshman, as he shot 5-of-12 from deep.

It didn't end at the offensive end of the floor for Clowney as he hauled in a team-high nine rebounds and tallied four charges in 29 minutes of play.

"I was sore, but I could play," Clowney said. "I just going to try and play and I wasn't going to play no different than I usually do. I rough start shooting the ball for the season and they scouted that and they felt like they could live with me taking shots."

Oats said leaving Clowney open was the Jackrabbits' defensive scheme all night and it was production the team needed tonight.

Shooting is contagious and whatever shooting vibes Clowney had, he made sure to share them with the rest of his teammates in the first half as Alabama hit 44% of its shots from deep. The Crimson Tide got production from four players who found their range. While Clowney led the way for most of the game, Mark Sears proved to be the team's most consistent option from deep, converting at an 80% clip.

The same could be said for when the shots aren't falling. In the second half, Alabama was held scoreless for more than six minutes hitting at a 20% clip from the field and from behind the arc.

"I know in one four-minute stretch we got the stat sheet and we had eight possessions and scored zero points," Oats said. "We struggled shooting the ball offensively. We weren't making threes, we weren't getting the O-boards, we weren't getting to the free-throw line enough. ... We gotta make some stuff happen when threes aren't dropping."

Sears had another big night in a string of strong performances for the Muscle Shoals native. While he finished with 19 points, his third game where he recorded more than 18 points or more with the Crimson Tide, the senior also crossed the 1,000-point mark in his career.

Sears remained a consistent option all night, shooting more than 50% from the field and from behind the arc.