The third-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide had a fight on their hands Saturday night inside Coleman Coliseum against a scrappy LSU Tigers team that came in as heavy underdogs. Alabama prevailed, 80-73, to improve to 6-1 in SEC play.
It wasn’t easy because the Crimson Tide committed eight first-half turnovers that led to 13 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Tigers (12-7 overall, 1-5 SEC) fought Alabama to a 40-all tie at halftime and out-rebounded the Tide 23-17 in a first-half performance that Nate Oats called a “disaster.”
Alabama (17-3 overall) pulled away in the game’s final four minutes. They did it without star Mark Sears, who watched the second half from the bench in what Oats said afterwards was a decision to play “the guys we thought gave us the best chance to win that second half.”
Sears, the SEC’s leading scorer at 19 points per game, finished the night 0-for-5 with 0 points in 17 minutes.
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The Crimson Tide used an 8-0 run to turn a five-point lead into a 77-64 advantage with two minutes to play, their largest lead of the night. Alabama beat LSU for the fifth straight time and for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings between the two rivals.
Aden Holloway finished with 19 points to lead the Crimson Tide in scoring while Mouhamed Dioubate added 14. Chris Youngblood (13 points), Grant Nelson (12) and Labaron Philon (11) also finished in double figures.
Alabama will travel to Starkville for a tough road test against No. 14 Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3) Wednesday at “The Hump.” Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
Here are the best photos of Alabama’s hard-fought win over LSU.
Aiden Sherrell, On3’s No. 10 overall prospect in the 2024 class, will announce his college decision on August 13th, he tells me. 
