Alabama came into Saturday’s contest against LSU aiming to take sole possession atop the SEC standings after No. 8 Auburn followed up its loss to the Crimson Tide with a defeat to Mississippi State earlier in the day.

Alabama (14-6, 6-1 SEC) once again opted for a lineup change and leaned on its offense against an LSU side that showed no fear of matching the Tide’s frenetic pace. LSU (11-9, 3-4) took it to the basket quickly and challenged Alabama to get stops defensively.

Those stops never really came in the second half, at least to the level that Oats wants them to in order to truly dominate opponents. The Crimson Tide won out by ramping up its scoring and ran away with the contest in the final period.

Led by its secondary guards, Latrell Wrightsell Jr and Aaron Estrada, the Tide outpaced LSU on its home floor, cruising to an 109-88 win. The victory sets a new program record of six games where Alabama has scored at least 100 points this season.

While Alabama coach Nate Oats continues to call for a complete game from his side, the Tide's second half domination helped make up for some first half defensive woes as Alabama now looks to hold its position atop the SEC standings.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s win over LSU.

Ahead of Saturday’s contest, Oats challenged Estrada to have a bounce-back game. Estrada struggled against Auburn, finishing without a point and was held to just two assists and three rebounds.

"I think he's in a little bit of a slump, needs some confidence." Oats told Crimson Tide Sports Network before the game. "I think we'll see a markedly improved Aaron Estrada tonight."

Oats was right. Estrada accepted his challenge and re-discovered his form against LSU. He led Alabama in assists with seven and on the glass with six rebounds, along with 18 points and a pair of steals. His plus-28 rating was also the best on the team.

"Steph Curry is the best shooter maybe in the history of basketball," Oats said. "He goes through slumps. I think Aaron was going through a little bit of a slump, needed a confidence boost. Every shot he missed. I just kept cheering him on. I thought he was playing super hard."

Estrada's best sequence of the game helped stifle an LSU run in the second half. He got a steal and found Rylan Griffen for a 3 in transition. On Alabama’s next possession, Estrada corralled an offensive rebound and finished off a 3-point play to put the Tide up 70-57, and Alabama didn't look back from there.

"I feel like every year, every player goes through a couple games where they have their funks and aren't playing well, Estrada said. "I just stay with it and my teammates pump me up."

Whether the Crimson Tide has a smooth offensive performance or has to work harder for shots often depends on Estrada’s playmaking ability. He remains Alabama’s best passer and offers an ability to create midrange shots when the Tide gets run off the 3-point line.

Oats hinted that more lineup changes would be coming after Alabama once again failed to start a game strong against Auburn. In that matchup, Oats switched up the starting five, swapping Rylan Griffen for Wrightsell.

That paid off as Griffen and Wrightsell both put in impressive performances against Auburn. Oats rewarded both players with a start Saturday as he once again attempted to get a spark from the opening tip. The Crimson Tide went small, swapping out forward Nick Pringle for Griffen and sliding Grant Nelson to the five.

The audible paid off as Alabama made four of its first five attempts from 3. The Tide held a five-point lead when Oats made his first sub.

"We needed to make a change in the starting lineup," Oats said. "Our starts have been disastrous. The start of the first half and the start of the second half, game after game after game, I kept warning those guys so we made a change. I thought (Wrightsell) has been good in the lineup. I thought Rylan came off the bench but played great (against Auburn). I thought those four guards were playing their best, Grant's been playing well. We put the guys have been playing best in."

Alabama’s smaller lineup led to better ball movement and smoother flow within the Crimson Tide’s offensive scheme. Alabama had 23 total assists to 12 turnovers and was able to race out in transition, finishing with 22 fastbreak points.

Wrightsell once again proved he can handle a bigger role in his second consecutive start, finishing with 19 points, one rebound and two steals. All five of Alabama's starters finished in double figures and had a positive box plus/minus rating.

"It's hard to guard us," Estrada said. "Especially when everybody's hitting. We put up 100 points, I don't think many teams are going to beat us when we're putting up 100 points."

While Alabama’s starters improved in the opening few minutes, Oats still dug deep into his bench early. The Tide finished with 23 bench points, while three of its reserves logged over 10 minutes of action. Mouhamed Dioubate had eight points and three rebounds in 14 minutes, while Davin Cosby Jr. made his biggest contributions in SEC play with three points, three rebounds and a steal in just seven minutes.

"Mo's earned himself minutes in the rotation," Oats said. "That's what I challenged Davin to do (and) I thought he did it for a day this week. We went two pretty hard days in practice and he was pretty good in one of them so I thought I'd reward him was minutes and I thought he did well with them."

Oats’ choice to change Alabama’s lineup twice in its last two games suggests that the Crimson Tide can pick its personnel based on both matchups and individual effort in practice and games moving forward. Oats has continued to issue challenges to his players and doesn't seem to mind swapping individuals if he thinks someone else can give Alabama a better chance at success, especially at the beginning of games.

The Tide's depth and improvement from several individuals highlights its growing potential to utilize more versatile lineups, which will be crucial as conference play continues.

While Alabama’s offense was once again clicking, the Crimson Tide played soft on the defensive end in the first half, which helped keep the game close before Alabama's offense turned the screws in the final period.

LSU’s primary method of displacing the Tide’s defense was by getting quick paint touches and driving aggressively against its smaller lineup. The Tigers were able to create mismatches and finished well through contact. Alabama missed the defensive presence and rim protection that Pringle typically brings. Pringle played just eight minutes Saturday.

The Tigers also rotated well off the ball, allowing a player driving to the rim to find open shooters beyond the 3-point line. When the kickout pass came, LSU hit its shots. It made five 3s and shot 48.5% from the field in the first half.

LSU’s aggressiveness also helped it get to the free-throw line. The Tigers shot 17-for-27 from the charity stripe. Two of those free throws came after a technical foul was called on Oats for jawing at the refs in the first half.

LSU continued to outperform its typical shooting averages. Coming into Saturday's contest the Tigers shot a 34.4% clip from beyond the arc this season. LSU shot 39% from deep Saturday.

"We gave them 11 3s," Oats said. "A good defensive team is not going to give (that many) up. They had 28 attempts. We don't even want them to get that many off. It's way too much help off the wrong spots from the wrong guy. It's not enough effort to get back out there, too many blowbys off the dribble. We've got to get our defense shored up and I'm going to keep preaching it, keep harping on it."

When it boiled down to it, Alabama's offensive talent won out. LSU went on a few self-inflicted scoring droughts, coughed the ball up 10 times and struggled near the rim shooting 11-for-28 on layup attempts. Even when Alabama isn't necessarily forcing as many misses or turnovers as Oats would like, it still capitalizes off of any miscues. The Tide generated 12 points of of LSU's 10 giveaways.

"I thought for the most part in the first half we were pretty effective and efficient on the offensive side of the ball," LSU coach Matt McMahon said. "The second half we struggled. We took some quick shots and they make you pay every time you do it."

Despite the blowout win, Oats and his side understand that in games against higher quality SEC opponents, the Tide will need to see another uptick in defensive intensity and show an ability to get multiple stops. Oats made it clear after the game that relying on its free scoring offense won't allow Alabama to keep its place on top of the SEC standings and possibly take home another conference title.

After its two-game homestand, Alabama will the road for a matchup with Georgia. The Bulldogs lost a barnburner against Florida 102-98 on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide faces the Bulldogs at 5:30 p.m. CT Wednesday. The game can be seen on SEC Network.