Alabama basketball is headed into SEC play on a high note.

Well, sort of.

The No. 9 Crimson Tide battled with Jackson State before finally pulling away for an 84-64 victory on an ugly Tuesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. Alabama (10-2) suffered from cold shooting early and turned the ball over 17 times on the night. However, the lackluster performance didn’t matter much against lowly Jackson State (1-11).

Alabama recorded its 10th win before conference play for the first time since the 2014-15 season. The Crimson Tide will open up its SEC slate on Dec. 28 when it travels to Mississippi.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's win over Jackson State.

To say Alabama was sleeping in first half is an understatement. The Crimson Tide was in full REM stage as it headed into the break clinging to a 33-32 lead against a Jackson State team that it was favored to beat by more than 30 points.

Alabama turned the ball over 13 times in 41 first-half possessions (31.7%). By contrast, the Crimson Tide scored on 15 of those possessions (36.6%). Alabama shot 38% percent from the floor before the break, including 21% (3 of 14) from beyond the arc.

Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, the Tigers were equally toothless early on. Jackson State shot 34% from the floor in the first half, missing 11 straight shots during one stretch.

Jackson State took a 34-33 lead with 19:23 remaining. From there, Alabama went on a 14-2 run to go up 47-36 with 14:59 left in the game. Alabama was able to hold onto its advantage from there to put the game away.

“We just needed to get ourselves going,” Alabama forward Nick Pringle said. “We’re always going to bring energy, but we just got to stick to the maturity thing that we’re sticking to. Just continue to grow as a team. We got a lot of young guys. We got some older guys, but we just got to come together and keep it going, really.”

With starting forward Noah Clowney missing the game due to illness, Alabama saw a pair of backup bigs step up in his place.

Graduate forward Noah Gurley earned the start in Clowney’s absence, recording a season-high 16 points to go with five rebounds while shooting 7 of 13 from the floor. Meanwhile, Pringle, a junior college transfer, posted a career-high 14 points, nine rebounds and two assists on 19 minutes off the bench.

Pringle scored 10 of his points in the first half while Alabama struggled to get on the scoreboard. He also posted a team-high five rebounds before the break. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward’s early production came despite missing his first four shots from the free-throw line. Pringle’s previous season-high came during the season opener against Longwood when he recorded 4 points and four rebounds over 11 minutes in a 75-54 Alabama victory.

"It was great," head coach Nate Oats said. "We needed both. Pringle has the most minutes he's played. Obviously, Clowney was out sick. We needed some minutes, Nick took advantage of it. I thought he played well. That's what we tell guys, you never know when your chance will come. You've got to be ready when it comes."

Gurley helped Alabama pull away after the break, scoring 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting after the break. He hit a 3-pointer to give the Crimson Tide a commanding 50-38 lead with 14:19 remaining.

After allowing Gonzaga to shoot 57.1%, including a blazing 74.1% in the second half, during a 100-90 loss to the Bulldogs over the weekend, Alabama's defense bounced back against Jackson State.

The Crimson Tide held the Tigers to 35% shooting while forcing 18 turnovers which it turned into 27 points on the other end. Alabama also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Jackson State 46-38.